Making inroads into the domestic market post re-entering the mobile phone market here, Motorola India does not plan to enter the offline retail market, and will continue to market its products via the e-commerce route. The U.S.-based firm launched its first product in India — the Moto G — in February after a nearly 2-3 year hiatus.
Asked about the role Motorola India will play in the company’s overall strategy, Marcus Frost, Senior Marketing Director for Motorola Mobility EMEA & APAC, told The Hindu , “Massive. India is really important to us. There is a huge potential here, market is growing at a great pace.”
Motorola at present sells two products in India — Moto G and Moto X — both of which have been launched exclusively through Flipkart. The third device — Moto E — to be launched on Tuesday will also be in partnership with the online retail giant.
Explaining the company’s go-to-market strategy, Mr. Frost said, “Internet penetration in India is about 11 per cent. However, it is growing exponentially. India has second fastest growth globally in terms of online, and e-commerce grew 88 per cent last year. So, there is an explosion of opportunity there. When you marry what we know about Indian consumer, products we have, the e-commerce growth here and the e-commerce channel that we have, it seems to be really a huge complement in terms of going-to-market.”
Asked if the company plans to get into the mainstream offline retail, Mr. Frost replied in the negative. “No, we have no plans of moving to retail channels as of yet. The Flipkart model is working well for us. It offers us opportunity to be different… reinvent mobile category,” he said. He added that he did not believe the current model would limit the reach to consumers. According to Mr. Frost, the Flipkart model will enable Motorola to reach and establish a strong hold in all areas of the country, where as in an offline retail model one may or may not be strong in all areas.
“Customers can also call Flipkart to place an order. In addition, we will constantly be marketing, along with Flipkart, so that consumers know where they can get the products, which would be a simple click or a phone call away,” he said. On the product portfolio, Mr. Frost said, “Our strategy has been to have a condensed portfolio. One thing we learnt is that by having 30-40 phones in our portfolio, we could not put in our best energy in everyone. So going forward we’ll keep a compact portfolio.”
