<div>Just four months after their launch in India, <strong>OnePlus</strong> mobile phones already have a sizeable following. Thanks largely to its popular Android- based operating system, CyanogenMod, and a powerful quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, there is a halo around these smart phones - "One" - among its users. Their 'invite only' sale model in Amazon India, has further cemented the brand's position here. Their strategy is to use word of mouth or viral marketing, globally, to keep costs low. The company may be a startup, based out of China, but one of its founding members -- Carl Pei -- is a global citizen. He was born in China, but grew up in the USA and Sweden. He along with Pete Lau, another globally savvy founder, have created a technology company that is here to stay. In under 9 months, they sold 1 million phones across the world. Now their focus is on penetrating emerging economies with clever associations and tie-ups. They have roped in <strong>Vikas Agarwal</strong>, who has worked for Ibibo and the global pension fund house, "Ivanhoe Cambridge", to head the India operations. Vikas caught up with BW|Businessworld on his strategy for India and explains why the smart phone consumer is evolving rapidly and is seeking personal engagement: Excerpts</div><div> </div><div><strong>The target for OnePlus seems to be the new influencers or the millennials; how do you plan to work with this segment?</strong></div><div>The great thing about OnePlus, as a company, is that we follow a local for local strategy without hurting the core ethos of the brand which is "Never Settle". The strategy is indeed to work with local communities that use our phone, regardless of their economic background, and we know that they are young and persuasive because they love technology. Our target is clearly to go to co-working spaces, Universities and city based forums. So the local user is our champion and there are so many requests from young people who want to promote the benefits of using the OnePlus One around their community. This is a great time for marketing; we get to understand the behavioir of our user base and this user base wants to promote our phone over several forums be it online or offline. The power of India lies in the power of its youth and this is the segment that can create viral marketing. See, as a startup, we have to keep costs extremely low.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Are you saying that the traditional way of marketing is dead?</strong></div><div>The more transparency you bring in to the system, with great service, the old ways of distribution based inventory models will certainly go away. Devices turn profitable for a company only when there is critical scale. Large manufacturers burn cash on the inventory they keep. For a startup like us, the low inventory model is the best way to begin and not burn cash for distributor margins and commissions. Therefore the logic of the 'invite only' sale prevails. This keeps our manufacturing and inventory costs low. In a way new companies like us are challenging the old ways by following new marketing techniques. The key is in the messaging of what the device can do to offer that personal experience; which is what our engineers, in Shenzhen, have worked hard at. It has all the premium features at a cost of Rs 22,000. It offers aspirational features at an affordable price. What we can invest for is in the service centres. We have 40 service centres currently across 40 cities and will increase this number to 300 service centres in 18 months. This will be a partnership with HCL. The consumers want convenience and ease. The tie up with Amazon and the sales, based on an invite model, has helped us keep costs low and has built a good image for us. This along with engaging our large online global forum, of 60,00,00 people, gives us insight on what we can do better.</div><div><strong><br /></strong></div><div><strong>Do you want to elaborate on your local for local strategy because as of now it seems new multi national companies in India are struggling with?</strong></div><div>You cannot change the wheel in India. What works in China, in terms of target audience psychology, does not work in India. You need to pull people, not through traditional marketing, and for that we need to engage them "personally" in various forums. We also cannot pull things traditionally, through TV or print advertising, because we have no marketing budgets. But talking more is the key here and connecting with local content is even more important. In China people find a good product and they are pulled to the technology and its benefits. This is why there are so many smart devices selling there. In India mind share for the large companies is focused on spending heavily on push and pull marketing. It is more of a status and aspiration thing. We are challenging this because at some point the consumer will evolve and the young people will naturally buy products that benefit their lives or make it easier for them. But we are very clear that we will use local champions to create forums in various cities in India. To further add to the local strategy; we may toy with the idea of pick up and deliver, when the product has to be serviced, and only this time the serviceman will need to talk in the local language or engage the customer with knowledge of the product.</div><div> </div><div><strong>The controversy about CyanogenMod operating system going to Micromax has been a cause of concern with many fans. How are you handling the situation?</strong></div><div>We assure our users in India that we have launched our own OS called the OxygenOS which is equally rich in fulfilling user experience. Going forward all devices will be on OxygenOS in India. CyanogenMod will ship with our devices in other markets for now. Here CyanogenMod has a tie up with another manufacturer and that continues.</div><div> </div><div><strong>What's next for OnePlus in India?</strong></div><div>This year will be about setting up a R&D centre here in Bangalore. It will be about increasing our team and creating a network of local champions. Currently we have fans across 10 major cities. But with the Indian smart phone boom, the market is wide open for many players. We are also launching the next version of the smartphone in July. We are going to have a strong focus on local content in the coming years. Currently we want to saturate the ecommerce channel and focus on consumers who want a great experience a phone. Not to forget we will scale up our service centres and this will further improve the brand's position here. I don't want to give targets because everyone quotes numbers. But yes we will have to scale up if we are to be a popular brand in India.</div><div> </div>
