Vivo entered the dynamic Indian smartphone market in late 2014 and ever since then the brand has not looked back. With a strong focus on continuously enhancing camera and music capabilities in its smartphone offerings – Vivo has firmly entrenched itself as a leading smartphone brand in the Indian market.
With its strong manufacturing capability in Greater Noida, the company has strongly cemented its distribution network across the country both in online as well as offline segment.
Today Vivo is providing reliable quality services in over 539 cities, in 27 states and 5 union territories backed by more than 550 service centres across the length and breadth of India. Nipun Marya, Director, Brand Strategy, Vivo India, speaks with Zia Askari from TelecomDrive.com about the company’s strategy for India.
What are the key focus areas for Vivo today?
We have a strong focus on innovation and are always looking to introduce game-changing features, such as higher-quality cameras and smarter AI services that take the mobile experience to a new dimension.
Competition is very intense here but the market here is also big. When the market is big, opportunities are big too. China is the largest but the market there has not grown in the last one year. India is a market which is so big and growing therefore the potential in the Indian market is huge and hence there is stiff competition.
However, we strongly believe that if we can do our bit well through product, innovation and quality then we are here to stay for a long time.
How important is India market for you?
India is a very important market for Vivo because there is tremendous market potential here. We have a 25 million production capacity at our facility in Greater Noida. So far, our total investment has been Rs 300 crore and we are running at full capacity. All the products that we sell in India are made in India. We sell 100% made in India devices. Now we feel we need to expand our manufacturing unit and that’s what we are doing. We have promised a Rs 4,000 crore manufacturing unit.
What kind of traction do you see for your products in the Indian market?
We believe there is a long way for us to be successful. We have started getting some initial success. If you look at Vivo, it has been into the China market for the past 14 years. The company has always focused on being a long term successful player and if you have to have long term success there are no short cuts. It starts from having good technology and innovation and that’s one key focus area.
The other is how you can build a strong distribution system and that’s also where we have put a lot of focus here in the last 4-5 years. There are 70,000 plus outlets that we are present in. After-sales service is very critical for us and we have more than 550 plus exclusive service centres. Then of course comes the brand.
Today you don’t only buy technology; you buy a whole life style package. So you have to be proud to own that brand. In short, distribution, after-sales, product with latest technology and brand are the four pillars basis which we are trying to build a strong foundation in India. Once all these are firmly established, we can say that success will come to us.
How do you differentiate yourself from other handset makers in the market?
Innovation has been our key differentiator. In the last 18 months, the kind of innovation we have been able to bring to the market, no other brand has been able to and we say that very humbly. We are at the forefront of innovation like pop-up selfie camera, in-display fingerprint sensor etc.
We believe that if we are a technology brand, then innovation should be our DNA. The analogy can be if you are fashion brand you can’t say it’s an outdated fashion, you have to be the latest and lead in fashion. Similarly we believe we have to lead in technology and that’s what we are doing.
