Oppo-owned smartphone maker Realme eyes 12-15% market share this year

Company completes first full year of operations in the country in 2019; it had seven million active users comprising 6% of the market during first quarter of current calendar

Smartphone maker Realme is aiming at a 12-15 per cent market share in the country’s smartphone space this year which marks its first full year of operations in the country. 

Launched in May 2018, the company in which Oppo has a 100 per cent stake holding, had a six per cent market share during January-March this year with around seven million active users. It made this mobile phone brand the fourth largest in the country.

In this endeavour, the company intends to sell 15 million smartphones in the ongoing year and will be focussing on increasing its offline presence across 20,000 outlets in the country and opt for six exclusive experience zones across the metros and 50 kiosks in malls in upcountry locations.

According to the International Data Corporation’s Asia Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Realme had shipped 1.9 million units lagging slightly behind its parent brand Oppo which had a 7.6 per cent market share with 2.4 million unit shipments.

Largely dependent on online sales, which currently account for 80 per cent of the total, it expects the contribution from this channel to come down to 70 per cent, while offline sales are expected to increase.

On the other hand, of the total smartphone sales in the country, online channel accounts for 35 per cent.

Madhav Sheth, CEO at Realme India, said, “The focus will continue to remain on online sales but we have seen that these online platforms do not cater to several locations in the country and we have are having a substantial enquiry from customers. Thus, we thought of reaching them via brick-and-mortar stores”.

Around 60 per cent of Realme’s total sales come in from tier 2-3 cities and 55 per cent of the company’s total sales accounts from the sub-Rs. 10000 smartphone segment.

“We are also focussing on building experience zones where consumers can have a look and feel of our entire product range and experience it”, he said.

In its quest to have a substantial pie of the smartphone market, the company will also be upgrading its smartphone series by rolling out new models. Sheth, however, is of the view that the average selling price for Realme will hover around the current level of Rs. 10,000.

Besides, the company, which is part of China based BBK Electronics Corporation, the second largest smartphone maker in the world, is also coming up with range of accessories including Bluetooth & wired headsets, power banks and others, in the second half of the current year. 

This Chinese phone maker is also on the lookout for local sourcing of phone components. Oppo has a manufacturing plant in Noida in Uttar Pradesh with an installed capacity to produce 60-80 million handsets every year.