Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Micromax - Success Story
Micromax is definitely a success story in terms of mobile manufacturing in India. The company started making mobile phones is 2007 and they stand at a big chunk (around 9%) market share in India, which is a remarkable success. Micromax started in 1991 and they were in the hardware distribution business. It has become the largest Indian domestic manufacturer and is continuously improving its market share.
The main strength of Micromax is that they rely heavily on the local R&D. They carry out lot of their production in China and Taiwan. The main mantra of their success is that they identified the needs of people and targeted the right products for them and they were bound to sell.
The Micromax X1 which has a 30-day stand by battery back up is a product, which came out from a small incident. Apparently, somebody saw in a small town that there was a person carrying a car battery on the back of his bicycle and people were coming to him and paying him some money to charge their mobile phones for some time. This immediately rose the need that people living in small towns and villages need to have a phone with very high battery and that is the way they came up with this phone and it helped them to establish their brand strongly.
Micromax has also brought the popularity of dual sim phones and currently there are about 22% dual sim phones sold in India. Micromax has hit on the niche segments with specific needs of people and they have been quite successful. Another example is the special phone for women with flashy stones and good design. Each Micromax phone has a separate USP attached to it. They have realized that even a niche segment in India is a big one given the size of the population. In India where there are tons of manufacturers, establishing a brand is not easy and Micromax has done it pretty well. Micromax has still a long way to go. Thumbs up to Micromax…!!!
The main strength of Micromax is that they rely heavily on the local R&D. They carry out lot of their production in China and Taiwan. The main mantra of their success is that they identified the needs of people and targeted the right products for them and they were bound to sell.
The Micromax X1 which has a 30-day stand by battery back up is a product, which came out from a small incident. Apparently, somebody saw in a small town that there was a person carrying a car battery on the back of his bicycle and people were coming to him and paying him some money to charge their mobile phones for some time. This immediately rose the need that people living in small towns and villages need to have a phone with very high battery and that is the way they came up with this phone and it helped them to establish their brand strongly.
Micromax has also brought the popularity of dual sim phones and currently there are about 22% dual sim phones sold in India. Micromax has hit on the niche segments with specific needs of people and they have been quite successful. Another example is the special phone for women with flashy stones and good design. Each Micromax phone has a separate USP attached to it. They have realized that even a niche segment in India is a big one given the size of the population. In India where there are tons of manufacturers, establishing a brand is not easy and Micromax has done it pretty well. Micromax has still a long way to go. Thumbs up to Micromax…!!!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Indian Telecom Market - Current Outlook - 2011
India has always been an open market in terms of wireless carriers and this trend is going to continue. The presence of so many wireless carriers increases their sufferings as the call rates are going down and down and they have no choice but to look at other sources of revenue. MVAS seems to be a good enough escape for the time being as its growing very fast with a CAGR of 45%.
The sole bread and butter of the companies flourishing in MVAS in India is the RBT (Ring Back Tone) which currently constitutes about 35% to the total MVAS revenue.
The operators are therefore always looking for newer ways of generating revenue other than voice. This calls for a situation when they need to collaborate.
Handset manufacturers are also suffering stiff competition as India currently has more than 68 handset manufacturers. Local manufacturers are doing good and Micromax is special to mention. They have achieved good success in limited amount of time. Still there is a good amount (15%) of grey market sale in India. Distribution has still not evolved in a standard way, 70% of the sales of mobile handsets is carried out through indirect (retailer) channels.
Some of the operators and handset manufacturers have sensed the need and they are already going in collaborations with big layers like Nokia, Samsung etc. They are offering discounted data plans, free voice usage and things like that.
India is the second largest market for handset manufacturers and soon (by 2013) it would be the largest market. The growth is going at a rapid pace and the demand for mobile is growing fast. The key growth drivers are:
1. Rise in consumer spending and increase in income levels
2. Rising awareness among people and increasing education levels
3. Low telephony penetration
4. Advent of technologies like 3G, MNP etc
India currently contributes about 10% of the global sales of mobile handsets and therefore it is the hot market for every handset manufacturer. India is divided into 23 telecom circles and there are 15 telecom carriers competing with each other. If we look at the technology, most of the mobile handsets are GSM (75%). Average selling price (ASP) in India currently stands at $52 and most of the handsets sold (80%) are priced below $100. Local manufacturing in India is bound to increase because the availability of low cost skilled engineering pool.
The sole bread and butter of the companies flourishing in MVAS in India is the RBT (Ring Back Tone) which currently constitutes about 35% to the total MVAS revenue.
The operators are therefore always looking for newer ways of generating revenue other than voice. This calls for a situation when they need to collaborate.
Handset manufacturers are also suffering stiff competition as India currently has more than 68 handset manufacturers. Local manufacturers are doing good and Micromax is special to mention. They have achieved good success in limited amount of time. Still there is a good amount (15%) of grey market sale in India. Distribution has still not evolved in a standard way, 70% of the sales of mobile handsets is carried out through indirect (retailer) channels.
Some of the operators and handset manufacturers have sensed the need and they are already going in collaborations with big layers like Nokia, Samsung etc. They are offering discounted data plans, free voice usage and things like that.
India is the second largest market for handset manufacturers and soon (by 2013) it would be the largest market. The growth is going at a rapid pace and the demand for mobile is growing fast. The key growth drivers are:
1. Rise in consumer spending and increase in income levels
2. Rising awareness among people and increasing education levels
3. Low telephony penetration
4. Advent of technologies like 3G, MNP etc
India currently contributes about 10% of the global sales of mobile handsets and therefore it is the hot market for every handset manufacturer. India is divided into 23 telecom circles and there are 15 telecom carriers competing with each other. If we look at the technology, most of the mobile handsets are GSM (75%). Average selling price (ASP) in India currently stands at $52 and most of the handsets sold (80%) are priced below $100. Local manufacturing in India is bound to increase because the availability of low cost skilled engineering pool.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)