Voto India focuses on small offline retail store in A-class towns and non-metros

"The China smartphone market has deteriorated by 15.5%, whereas, In fact, China, the biggest market, has degrown by 15.5% and clocked around 398 million handsets during this financial year, whereas the Indian market is in the growth trajectory"

Santosh Singh
National Sales Head, Voto India

Voto sees huge opportunity in the India market and understanding the nature of the market, the company is gaining foothold in the market with a good channel strategy. It has also realized the importance of service support and it has a wide network of it. In a chat with VARINDIA, Santosh Singh, National Sales Head, Voto India, discusses about the India market, trends in the tier-2 and -3 cities, channel strategy, R&D, etc.     

When worldwide smartphone market is degrowing, the Indian smartphone market is progressing by leaps and bounds. The China smartphone market has deteriorated by 15.5%, whereas, as per a IDC report, the India market grew by 14.5 per cent in 2018. Voto is targeting to sell 150 million smartphones in the current year. The smartphone company is trying to place itself right in the market by following the strategy of best price, quality and services.

      
“Every brand has some uniqueness compared to their competitors, to give the best offers in the best price segment. Worldwide, smartphone market has degrown. In fact, China, the biggest market, has degrown by 15.5% and clocked around 398 million handsets during this financial year, whereas the Indian market is in the growth trajectory, and we are expecting to sell around 150 million smartphones only in the current year, which was 133 million last year and overall mobile phone can do more than 300 million. In that scenario, everyone has an opportunity to do good if we place right in the market, and Voto is trying to do the same by giving the best price, best quality and best services. Voto Mobiles aspires to be one of the leading smartphone companies by offering its superior handsets at the most competitive prices,” explains Santosh Singh, National Sales Head, Voto India.

Strategy
Understanding the hyper-competitive market of India, Voto’s market strategy of differentiated sales and distribution has helped the brand to strengthen its position. It is emphasizing on its retail presence and focusing on states with high teledensity to woo customers.  

“Our differentiated offline strategy for sales and distribution has worked well for the brand in gaining a foothold in India's hyper-competitive smartphone market. We are focusing on a network of small offline retail stores in A-class towns and non-metro cities to sell our smartphones. Currently, the brand has a network of more than 10,000 retailers and 150 distributors. We are strongest in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Eastern belts. Mainly, we are focusing on the states which have high teledensity to capture more and more customers,” reveals Singh.   

Talking about the service support Singh adds, “After-sales service is the backbone of any company in the technical field. We already provide customer service terms in place where we try to reach out to all our customers. Currently, we provide servicing through 1,400 service centres all across pan India and are covering around 4,500 pin codes. Indian consumer wants peace of mind, and we are trying to achieve the same by giving the best price, best quality and best services.”
  
Trends 
Infinity display and Notch screen are the ongoing trends among the smartphone buyers. Foldable phone, screen and battery will be in demand in the coming year. In the tier-2, -3 and rural areas, consumers are price conscious.

 
“Infinity (18:9) and Notch (19:9) screen sizes are the talk of the town this year, whereas foldable phones will be the next flavour of market in the coming year. Screen size, battery because of usage will be in demand in the ensuing year. RAM and ROM will not excite the customer as majority of the people didn't utilize the capacity and it is not adding much value compared to other things which manufacturers can put to differentiate their product from competitors. In the tier-2, tier-3 markets and in rural areas, consumers are cautious about their spending behaviour. We have our product line starting from mid-segment to most catering price point. Full view to top-notch and then water drop with all variants would be our current lineup till now,” says Singh.
         
R&D
Voto believes that R&D is an important aspect for a technology company and the brand endeavours to deliver innovative product to stay ahead of the competition. 

“R&D is the backbone of any company and without that existence will be a question mark for any brand. We aim to deliver innovative products with a technology which is ahead of competition. We have our specialized R&D in China. We manufacture for many brands. So for that you need to keep yourselves updated in the stipulated time frame. We don't have any plan right now to put our R&D over here in India. We do believe in the government’s Initiative of Phase Manufacturing Program and for that we are putting our bit to make it possible for Voto,” states Singh. 

Aparna Mullick
aparna@varindia.com