In an interaction with Sudhir Kumar who joined Transsion Holding as CEO and would be spearheading the Indian operations share his company’s future plans for India.
A part of the larger Transsion Holdings conglomerate, one of the world’s major mobile phone manufacturers and a leading supplier of communication devices with presence in 30+ countries across the globe, itel Mobile offers connectivity solutions for the lower-end of the consumer spectrum. Launched in 2007 with an aim of empowering people to stay connected through economical products, the company focuses on enabling mobile communication device ownership for consumers the world over.
itel now aims to translate its global success to tap the hitherto unexplored market in India through its vast array of products such as feature phones, smartphones, tablets and mobile accessories. Focusing chiefly on the lucrative Indian rural market, the brand will deliver value-driven offerings for the Indian consumer in order to quench the demand for pocket-friendly mobile devices.
itel’s roadmap?
itel has been introduced to empower people to stay connected through its high-performance, quality-assured mobility solutions at a very competitive price that suits the accounts of mass India. On the back of its pedigree, its proven track record and its relevance, the brand has seen widespread acceptance in the markets of China and Africa. Today, it has a prominent presence in more than 37 international markets. Over 70 million phones have been sold since its inception, and itel remains on course to enable a truly ubiquitous mobile-based digital ecosystem for all social segments.
This success is what we are looking to replicate in India, which is one of the world’s fastest growing digital economies. Our vision is to make mobile ownership more accessible and ‘within your means’ for the hitherto untapped rural, semi-urban and tier-2/tier- 3 city-based consumers. We wish to provide them with the tools to fulfill their aspirations to stay connected with their social circles. Our product line up will be the unique differentiator. It will be categorized in three series, Selfie PRO; Power PRO and multi feature series i.e wish series. We are also aiming to become a 4G-LTE connectivity popularize in India through our vast array of mobile connectivity solutions such as feature phones, smartphones, tablets and mobile accessories.
It’s important to define what makes your business stand out
At itel, we believe in delivering superior quality products that help the mass consumers to progress by satisfying their aspirations. This unique integration of quality with value plus is what has driven our success so far, and is also what acts as our USP. Our prime focus is on offering a high quality camera and excellent battery back-up. We want to elevate the benchmark in each product category.
Our key USPs:
We have service touch points set up in place much before the launch. With our focus on service assurance, we are entering the market with a commitment of a 100 day replacement warranty in inclusion to a standard 12 months repair warranty. This is a major step which no other mobile brands in India provide. We are focused on providing two key elements in our products, i.e. better camera performance and long lasting battery life. We have a specialized R&D team which works towards optimizing & tuning the camera performance to be the best in the industry. The Power series will further work to enhance the battery life.
What are the investment plans for India?
India, being one of the only three big billion markets apart from China and Africa, figures very highly on our list of priorities. As such, we have significant investment plans in place for the country. In order to keep our mobile connectivity solutions affordable and easily accessible for the Indian consumer, we are planning to set up manufacturing units at strategic locations within India. Not only will this help us in establishing the foundation for a robust supply chain, but will also contribute to the Government of India’s ambitious ‘Make in India’ campaign. Furthermore, we are also looking to create a strong customer support network that takes care of all pre and post-sale consumer issues. This will be done by launching 1000 service centers across the country, which will definitely give the employment landscape within India a big boost.
How you will tackle the crowded segment in India?
We believe our relationship with our consumers is not just restricted to device purchase, but extends to much before and after the sale is completed. Our aim is to develop a well-rounded, holistic, end-user oriented approach that will disrupt the concept of mobile ownership in the country. Not only are we developing a robust supply chain for our service delivery, but are also focusing on the end-consumer satisfaction through our 1000 planned service centers. We are working towards providing customer support in regional languages to heighten the quality of our after-sales service, something which is currently not paid much attention to by the incumbent market players. Moreover, in order to allow our consumers to derive the maximum value for their money, itel also has several strategic partnerships in place with leading brands in the field of mobile devices and communication such as Airtel, Vodafone, Sharp, Sony, Intel, Samsung, Java and Facebook in Africa and other markets and we want to leverage the association in India as well. These measures, in confluence with our focus on integrating quality with affordability, will serve to differentiate our brand in the Indian market.
We are positioning our products so as to be able to build their own segmentation as 90% of our mobile models have clear differentiation and stand out from the crowd. In mobiles, where our competition uses 1800 mAh, we have benchmarked our products at 2500mAh in the same price category. Our R&D team has come up with unique innovations that provide solutions to one of the biggest pain points of mobile users, i.e. camera quality. So we can clearly say that we are a value plus product company and as time goes by, our product will be able to create its own segment with less or no competition.