Alcatel eyes 15% revenue from e-commerce this year

Company is looking at aggressively launching more handsets through the e-commerce route

Betting big on the burgeoning Indian e-commerce market, Alcatel expects about 15% of its revenues to come from online sales this year as it plans to launch a slew of mobile devices through e-tailers.

The company, which has a portfolio of seven smartphones and three feature phones, is also looking at aggressively launching more handsets through the e-commerce route.

"We have successful partnerships with Idea and Vodafone. While we continue to grow the operator business, we are also bullish on e-commerce route to reach out to consumers," Alcatel One Touch Regional Director APAC Praveen Valecha told PTI.

He added that about 15% of the company's revenues in India would come from e-commerce this year.

While Valecha declined to divulge revenue numbers, he said the company sold about 1.5 million handsets last year.

"In the next four months, we will launch 5 smartphones and 2 feature phones. The Indian market has a lot of potential and is an important one for us," he said.

In 2014, Alcatel expects sales to touch 3 million units.

Alcatel One Touch is a brand of TCL Communication, a public company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and part of TCL Corporation.

The company has launched its Idol X+ today priced at Rs 16,999 in an exclusive partnership with one of country's largest e-commerce firms, Flipkart. It will be available from June 3 onwards.

The Android Jellybean OS powered device features a five inch touchscreen, octa-core 2 GHz processor and 13.1 MP rear camera, 2MP front camera and a 2,500 mAh battery.

The box will also include a Health Boomband (smartband) and JBL headphones.

"We expect to sell 25,000 units of Idol X+ in the first month," Valecha said.

Country's largest e-commerce firm, Flipkart has a similar tie up with US-based Motorola for its handsets.

"This is the second time we are tying up with a global mobile phone brand to be the exclusive destination for their products in India. We recently witnessed massive success with another brand on our platform and this has reinforced our position as the platform of choice," Flipkart VP retail and head of brand relations Michael Adnani said.

Electronics, especially mobile handsets, are one of the highest selling items for the USD 3 billion e-commerce industry in India.