We aim to sell 1.5 mn mobile phones in 2015: OPPO Mobiles India CEO

By Manishika Miglani

India has become a thriving ground for a number of Chinese mobile manufacturers offering the most competitive price for their feature-rich smartphones. One such brand is Oppo Mobiles, which joined the bandwagon in January 2014 and since then, has launched 16 mobile phones for one of the biggest markets in Asia.

In an exclusive interview with Voice&Data, Tom Lu, CEO, Oppo Mobiles India, shares his strategies for the price-sensitive India market, the evolving trend of smartphones and the portfolio of products they deal in.

Voice&Data: What is your strategy for the India market given the wide portfolio of products offered by the various handset manufacturers?

Tom Lu: India is a very attractive and price sensitive market and there is a certain section of consumers who are extremely technology savvy and looking for innovative and power-packed devices. The way consumers choose and buy smartphones is continuously evolving and that means you need to have a diverse portfolio of products and price points to appeal to a wide range of consumers there.

OPPO has a very strong capability of building up offline sales network quickly worldwide. Fans from over 50 countries could also purchase via third party online shop called OPPOstyle.com.

Considering the vast market areas we have covered in the world, it is hard for us to predict the exact offline online ratio. However, OPPO will take this O2O strategy for the time being and in the near future. We will continue to expand both online and offline networks together, and try to leverage the benefits of this mobile internet era for better market performance.

Voice&Data: How do you plan to be different from the other Chinese competitors which have entered India?

Tom Lu: India is a strategic market for us primarily because there is clearly a huge potential to grow in the Indian smartphone market. We are speeding up our sales and service network and expect a fair growth and a bigger share of the market in the times to come. We have sold around 400,000 (0.4 million) devices in India and are targeting for 1.5 million units in 2015.

We are planning to come up with more mid-segment smartphones which fits the budget and delivers the best in class experience to our customers.

On the brand aspect, we expect our brand will become a well-known name for its innovation, quality and service over the next five years.

Voice&Data: What kind of market growth do you see for OPPO in the coming months?

Tom Lu: We have launched 16 smartphones in the Indian market and most of them have been appreciated for their aesthetic design and innovative technology.

As far as market strategy is concerned, we are looking at more nation-wide channel partners so that we can satisfy the huge customer needs at the earliest. The company has plans to expand more service centres this year.

As of now, we have 120 service centres across India and are targeting to open 200 service centres by end of 2015. We also have hot line services to communicate with the customers. As far as R&D centres in India are concerned, we are considering it but cannot comment on it as of now.

Voice&Data: How do you eye the phablet space given that it’s continuously growing market?

Tom Lu: Right now, our focus is on launching new smartphones in the Indian market. But we will definitely be getting new technology and devices in the market soon.

Voice&Data: Can you emphasize on your channels of distribution and after-sales market strategy.

Tom Lu: We are retailing in over 20 major cities and regions, mainly through multi-brand stores. We are also planning to build our showrooms and exclusive stores in a short time.

Voice&Data: What are your business expansion plans?

Tom Lu: We entered India in January 2014 and have received an overwhelming response in India. The smartphone boom in India indicates the time is just right to focus on expansion plans and increasing volume in India to a comparable level with the China market in the next five years. 2015 will be a year of expansion for us and we will target to sell 1.5 million units in the Indian market.

Voice&Data: Which range of smartphones will be your focus to cater to a wider segment of Indian consumers?

Tom Lu: We will soon be bringing more innovative products with premium quality to the Indian market across categories. OPPO has released couple of smartphone models for LTE like OPPO R5/N3/Find 7 / Find 7a in India and we will have more 4G models soon. We will be focussing on N series as well as to bring new camera technologies for our consumers which have been appreciated in the past.

Voice&Data: What are your strategic markets other than India?

Tom Lu: OPPO is a leading global technology brand dedicated to providing consumers across the Americas, Africa, Europe, Oceania, and Asia with pioneering products that never fail to inspire and excite. OPPO mobile phones are currently available in over 20 markets and offered for online purchase in over 50 additional countries, with the brand already registered in 116 countries as of April 2015.

We are already among the 'top three' mobile phone players in Indonesia with close to eight percent market share. Similarly we have 13 percent market share in Vietnam and close to 11 percent in Malaysia.