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| Source: Zinnov website. |
Growing competition resulting in price reductions; the ease of access of content and language localisation; government incentives through 'Make in India' and prevalence of Internet-enabled services on smartphones are some of the reasons for exponential smartphone adoption rates in India, says Zinnov, a management consultancy.
Local vendors are facing stiff competition from Chinese vendors, however. Xiaomi recently surpassed all other brands in the sale of 4G LTE smartphones, while Micromax is threatening the dominance of Samsung. "With consumers spoilt for choice, domestic smartphone vendors will have to increasingly focus on streamlining operational processes and investing in R&D for differentiation," said Arvind Rawat, Engagement Manager-Market Expansion Advisory, Zinnov.
Smartphone vendors are also adopting new and innovating go-to-market strategies like retailing exclusively online (Motorola on Flipkart for instance), building experience centres to facilitate tje customer experience, such as the 100 centres planned by Xiaomi in India, or investing in a brick and mortar model, as with the 250 retail stores planned by Gionee. Hardware differentiation is also another way of gaining traction in the Indian market.
The study also notes that smartphones now part of the way consumers shop as they can be used to conduct research about a product anytime and anywhere. This behaviour has been noticed by e-commerce companies, which are increasing their focus on mobile commerce.
To view the full report, click here (email address required).
In India Smartphone Market: Witnessing Exponential Growth, Zinnov says approximately 81 million smartphones were shipped in 2014. Smartphones are expected to show 36% CAGR over the next five years, hitting the 651 million mark by 2019. Smartphone users in mini metros and Tier-I/II cities show sophisticated usage of smartphones, similar to that of large metros, the company notes.
Local vendors are facing stiff competition from Chinese vendors, however. Xiaomi recently surpassed all other brands in the sale of 4G LTE smartphones, while Micromax is threatening the dominance of Samsung. "With consumers spoilt for choice, domestic smartphone vendors will have to increasingly focus on streamlining operational processes and investing in R&D for differentiation," said Arvind Rawat, Engagement Manager-Market Expansion Advisory, Zinnov.
Smartphone vendors are also adopting new and innovating go-to-market strategies like retailing exclusively online (Motorola on Flipkart for instance), building experience centres to facilitate tje customer experience, such as the 100 centres planned by Xiaomi in India, or investing in a brick and mortar model, as with the 250 retail stores planned by Gionee. Hardware differentiation is also another way of gaining traction in the Indian market.
The study also notes that smartphones now part of the way consumers shop as they can be used to conduct research about a product anytime and anywhere. This behaviour has been noticed by e-commerce companies, which are increasing their focus on mobile commerce.
To view the full report, click here (email address required).
Read our blog post on Euromonitor's observations of consumer shopping behaviour here.
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