China-based handset maker Gionee is expecting strong sales this festive season, which will help the company achieve Rs.3,000-crore revenue target set for the current financial year. During the 60-day period starting with Navratas, the firm is confident of achieving sales of Rs.700 crore.
“During the festive season, generally a growth of anywhere between 25 and 40 per cent a month is seen. Particularly on a day like Dhanteras (which is considered extremely auspicious day to make purchases), one can end up doing almost three to four times the daily business. This season, we are targeting sales of Rs.700 crore,” Gionee Smartphones India Head Arvind R. Vohra said.
The firm, which entered the domestic market in March last year, has sold 30 lakh handsets in the country till August, 2014, realising sales of over Rs.1,500 crore.
Of this, 13 lakh units were sold during the April-August 2014 period. The company achieved sales of over Rs.1,000 crore during the five months.
According to Mr. Vohra, Gionee has nearly 2 per cent share of the mobile phone market in volume terms and about 4 per cent share in value terms. “Presently, 75 per cent of the phone market belongs to feature phones in terms of volume, but value-wise it is only 30 per cent. 70 per cent of the market in terms of value belongs to smartphones and that is where our focus is,” he added.
Talking about selling products online, Mr. Vohra said, “We are majorly an offline player. Right now, we are not going online. Whenever we will go online, it will be with a properly seeded strategy so that our online and offline products do not compete with each other on price.”
The company, which recently unveiled a campaign stating that every seven seconds someone upgrades to a Gionee in India, is working on building the brand. “For us, India is a strategic target, next after China. We are working on building the brand...a brand gets built by how many people carry it. They are not built in a single day, it comes from trust and that takes time,” he said.
