On January 14, 2016, OPPO will enter into third year of operation in India. Oppo India CEO, Mike Wang, speaks to EC’s Mohd Ujaley on the key areas that company is planning to focus on in 2016. He says, “We are speeding up our sales and service network and expect a fair growth and a bigger share of the market. We have sold around 400k devices in India and targeted 1.5 million units in 2015, and we will increase this number in the year 2016.”
Edited excerpts:
On January 14, 2016, OPPO will enter into third year of operation in India. What key areas are you planning to focus on?
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 400k devices in India and targeted 1.5 million units in 2015, and we will increase this number in the year 2016.
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. The company has plans to expand more service centers this year. As of now, we have 120 service centers across India and are targeting to open over 200 service centres in 2016. We also have hot line services to communicate with the customers. As far as R&D Centers in India is concerned, we are considering it but cannot comment on it as of now.
Majority of Chinese phone makers are focusing on low-range and mid-segment smartphones in India. How would you like to differentiate OPPO?
Customers are the very foundation for OPPO’s passion in the industry and we have got an amazing response from our customers. OPPO has co-developed products with customers based on their feedback in both hardware and software user experience. In this price sensitive market there is a certain section of consumers who are extremely technology savvy and looking for innovative and power-packed devices. We have already introduced products in the price range of Rs 6500 to Rs 42999 which gives many options to Indian consumers. A recent budget Smartphone launched in India is Neo 7 inheriting the distinguishing design and features in an uber stylish frame aiming at the mid-range market.
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. We have recently launched OPPO Joy Plus targeting customers with ground-breaking technology at affordable prices.
The innovative nature of the Smartphone industry has been steadily gaining ground in recent years. In a competitive market, manufacturers look towards providing users with features that give their products the cutting edge. At OPPO we have developed an innovative technology called VOOC Flash Charge which can safely charge a battery to 75% of its capacity in just 30 minutes. It only takes 5 minutes to have enough battery for a two-hour call even for models such as the OPPO N3 with a battery capacity of 3000mAh, it can be charged to 75% in 30 minutes.
Presently you are focusing on retail but going forward will you be open for online sales as well?
Right now we are retailing in over 20 major cities and regions across the nation, mainly through multi-brand stores, and are looking at more nation-wide channel partners so that we can satisfy the huge customer need at the earliest. The way consumers choose and buy smartphones is continuously evolving and you need to have a diverse portfolio of products and price points to appeal to a wide range of consumers. We are focusing on retail as of now but do keep the window open for online sales as well.
What is your sense of ‘Make in India’ campaign? Are you looking at manufacturing in India?
We are really excited for “Make In India” initiative by the Indian Government. This initiative will boost demand; encourage development which will be benefiting the investors as well. We would wait to see the clear map of the government policy and how the market is developing. We would be happy to be part of ‘Make In India’.
Is OPPO planning anything around 4G for Indian market?
We have released couple of Smartphone models for LTE like OPPO R5/N3/Find 7 / Find 7a in India and we will have more and more 4G models as the market develop since we are now closely working with RIL & Airtel for technical and other cooperation.