Gionee unveils expansion strategy via multi-brand CDIT chains

Gionee, a global provider of mobile devices, has announced the expansion of its offline retail channel through collaborations with India’s leading modern CDIT retail chains, including Spice, The MobileStore, Mobiliti World, Jumbo Electronics, Croma Retail and Planet M. Increasing its presence in the smartphone market, Gionee handsets will now be available across 1,000+ stores; the brand aims to sell 35,000+ additional devices every month immediately and scale it up at a constant pace in the coming future.
Speaking on new collaborations, Arvind Vohra, Country CEO and MD, Gionee India, said, “With this increased collaboration with new vendor partners, we want to establish ourself among top three brands in the country. We may also collaborate with south Indian chain Sangeetha Mobiles and Universal in the future.”
Vohra was speaking at the announcement of new vendor partners which took place on June 30th at the Leela Palace, New Delhi.
Through this move, the company is looking to boost sales by over 10 per cent in the coming year.
Highlighting the challenges in the category, Vohra said, “Being a Chinese company, initially, the challenge were to build credibility because everything is related to credibility; consumers start investing in your products once they start trusting you. And, in terms of retail, you just cannot cover the entire length and breadth of the country without people investing in your venture.”
Speaking on growth, he said, “In the first year, we touched about Rs 500 crores; in the second year, this went up to Rs 2,700 crore. And, we are looking to double that number this year.”
The company will offer the same product portfolio to all its new vendor partners across India. The company will not venture into e-commerce marketplaces as of now because of over-discounting on e-commerce portals, Vohra stated.
Commenting on market potential, he noted that smartphones is a rapidly growing category in India and the value proposition of smartphone devices will soon be touching 88 per cent from the overall mobile martket.
Speaking on rapidly changing smartphone technology and price falls, he said, “There are many products for which we have not changed the price for over a year. We are not willing to reduce our specifications, hence we will not indulge in a price game.”
Currently, Gionee sells through its exclusive brand stores, shop-in-shops and the company’s e-store. Gionee has been rapidly expanding its footprint in India by opening brand stores and aims to open 250 brand stores in the next one year. The company also has 800 service centres up and running and aims to have 1000 by end-2015.