Chinese Companies Give Best Quality Mobile Phones At Reasonable Price: TCL Communications
Chinese electronics manufacturer TCL Communications which sell Alcatel mobile in India, recently launched their latest budget smartphone Alcatel 3v.
With features like 6-inches 2K Full View display, Android 8.0 Oreo and dual rear cameras, the handset only costs Rs 9,999 which not many other smartphone brands are offering in this price segment. Stefan Streit, General Manager, Global Marketing, TCL Communications and Praveen Valecha, Regional Director at TCL Communications share the company’s plans in India.
With Alcatel having its presence around the globe, how is India different than rest of the world as a smartphone market and what challenges do you face here as a brand?
India is one of the fastest growing major economies in the world. Indeed it’s a very important market to TCL Communication. The company is focussed on building a sustainable Alcatel brand in India.
We have been strengthening our portfolio to bring the latest technology to our customers at affordable prices, and we will leverage the existing partnership with operators and ecommerce players to achieve growth. The exclusivity agreement with Flipkart is an example of how TCL Communication will offer global technology at affordable prices, while Flipkart will provide local knowledge. In the next three years, we want to be among the top five online smartphone brands in the country.
A lot of mobile companies with Chinese lineage are capturing market share very fast. Are we going to see a change in this trend in the coming future?
Smartphones as a category are growing at a phenomenal pace this year and this is across price points. There are a lot of actions in 4G as operators expand coverage. With entry of Reliance Jio and increased competition in the operator market, India will become one of the biggest mobile internet markets in the world leading to the launch of many services that consumers can benefit from.
We think, the on-going trend of affordable smartphones will continue in the coming year. Chinese companies give best quality products at reasonable price so this trend will continue.
Where are Alcatel phones manufactured? Any plans of setting up manufacturing units in India, especially now that Indian government has been increasing import duty on smartphones and PCBs?
Alcatel phones sold in India are manufactured out of our factory in Shenzen, China. We are still growing to reach the scale required to make-in-India viable. Having said that the next product might very well come under the initiative. As for the R&D, currently, TCL has 9 R&D centers in Silicon Valley, Paris, Shanghai, Beijing, Ningbo, Huizhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
We leverage global research and development resources, also, in India we have a partnership with Flipkart, where we are able to utilize their expertise and know-how about local consumer, to ensure we offer the right product at the right price to our targeted groups.
What are your expectations for the recently launched Alcatel 3v, how do you think will it fare against the likes of Xiaomi or Motorola?
The Alcatel 3v features an enormous 6-inch 2K full view IPS display. Encased under a 2.5D fully laminated glass, the display adds amazing detail and definition to your viewing experience. It provides the latest and the best display possible that none of the smartphones under budget category can give the consumers.
The Indian smartphone market is very competitive, what are your strategies to reach higher in the top smartphone vendors’ list? How much are you planning to invest in your marketing strategies?
We have entered the Indian market for smartphones after having built the right product for Indian markets and successfully testing in a few global markets. We have reached a critical expansion point where we can use the solid platform we have established to expand to other countries and bring our leading technology to many more users. Our entry into the smartphones category is a strategic move that reinforces our commitment to lead technology and innovation. The mid segment is definitely the largest segment in the mobile industry in India.
As per our brand philosophy, we tried to prove to the consumer that even affordable smartphones can be of the most reliable quality coming from a known and trusted brand. In coming days, we would be bringing in more flagship phones. As per marketing we have a Digital First strategy in India where we reach out to targeted audience. We have increased our visibility on Flipkart substantially over last year. We have seen remarkable growth in terms of online brand awareness and favourability for Alcatel. We invest marketing fund more focused on our targeted groups and take latest technology and social platform into account to make it accessible to our target audience as much as we can.
Are you going to add more products to your portfolio this year?
Yes we will be adding more product portfolios this year. Alcatel is the world’s first brand to deliver an immersive 18:9 display experience across each product series in its 2018 portfolio. This ground breaking accomplishment is made possible through using custom-built displays produced in long-term partnership with China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT), a sister company of TCL Communication under TCL Group.
Further, we will built on the equity we have gained on the large-screen device business. We have managed to gain a 10 percent + on Flipkart in the last 3 months and currently enjoy a 3.8% share in the e-commerce segment. We are also very excited to launch Android Go device for India and will make an announcement specific to that in the coming month.
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