Lenovo to focus on experiential mktg, differentiated products

Handset maker Lenovo will invest in experiential marketing and introduce differentiated products in the country as it looks to further consolidate its position in the Indian market.
Lenovo, which also sells Motorola phones, is also focussing on expanding its business in offline retail to drive growth.
"We have grown from being No 31 in 2013 to being No 2 in 2016. We are focussed on bringing in differentiated products and offering premium experience to consumers," Lenovo MBG India Executive Director Sudhin Mathur told reporters here.
He has recently taken over as the managing director of Motorola Mobility India as well.

According to research firm IDC, Samsung led the smartphone market with 24.8 per cent share, followed by Lenovo (along with Motorola) (8.9 per cent) and Micromax (8.8 per cent).
"We will also invest in setting up exclusive stores that will give hands on experience for all phones, starting with pilots with large format retail stores...The next growth will come from offline," he said without sharing financial details.

The company gets about two-thirds of its sales from online channel.
Mathur said while the pace of people switching from feature phones to smartphones has slowed down, the average selling price of smartphones has gone up.

"It's going to be very challenging next three years. The top five brands will constitute 80 per cent of the market and they will focus on the premium and mid segments, not so much at the bottom of the pyramid," Mathur said.
The Indian smartphone market has seen a significant shift in the last few quarters with homegrown brands being pushed out of the top five positions by Chinese brands like Lenovo, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo.
For Motorola, Mathur said 'mods' will be a key feature of differentiation.
Mororola's Moto Z, which was unveiled globally last year, allows users to attach a set of accessories called 'mods' to the back of the device that adds various functionalities to the device.

"We are working with various developers for future mods, some concepts of which include printer capability, VR mod, charger mod for powering other mods and the phone etc...We will be bringing out three to four mods every quarter, which will come at different and more affordable price points," he said.