Eyeing a 15 per cent share of the smartphone market in India, Taiwanese device maker HTC, has worked out a four-pronged strategy to achieve its target, its country manager Faisal Siddiqui said.
The strategy hinged on launching products at value-points, increasing its distribution and after-sales service footprint and increasing brand awareness, Mr. Siddiqui said during an interaction with The Hindu . HTC has just launched an entry-level product, Desire 210 priced at Rs.8,700, which was built and designed for India. It expects entry level phones and mid-level phones to mainly drive its sales in India.
“There are four pillars to our India-strategy. We plan to launch products at value points, increase distribution outlets from 3,500 now to 8,000 in the next six months. We also plan to invest in ramping up the after-sales service points,” he said adding that increasing brand awareness was a very crucial part of the strategy which included having ‘experience zones and concept stores’. The company had 2,000 distribution outlets two years ago. He said that the Desire 210 had been designed for India which needed such products. “India is a key market for HTC, being the third largest smartphone market after the U.S. and China.
Three years ago, HTC had a market share of less than one per cent which has increased to around 6 per cent now. The company is planning to grab a 15 per cent share of the market in two years.
Smartphone market in India is growing by 80 per cent annually and is replacing feature-phones. Smartphones comprised less than 10 per cent of all phones sold in India but the market was growing fast. “The sub-Rs.10,000 segment comprised 50 per cent of the smartphone market, he said.
To a question, Mr. Siddiqui said that at present there were no plans to set up a manufacturing unit in India. HTC now has 12 devices that it has launched in India.
