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Having created a niche for themselves in the rural and low-end market, Indian handset makers are now aggressively chasing the urban youth market.
Brands such as Micromax, Lava, Spice and Maxx have put in place a strategy to move into a market segment which is currently the stronghold of multinational brands.
Lava, for instance, is launching a new phone which it claims is designed for the cool MTV generation. The handset maker is partnering with MTV to launch this phone on Thursday in a bid to penetrate the urban youth market.
Maxx Mobile has partnered with Reebok to sell its products through 1,000 Reebok outlets where customers will get a free pair of shoes with the phone.
“We are already pre-booked till February within one week of opening the Reebok offer. Giving shoes worth Rs 3,000 along with a phone that costs between Rs 2,800 and Rs 4,700 is an offer aimed at the youth market,” says Mr Ajjay Agarwal, Chairman & Managing Director, MAXX Group. The phone maker has also launched several products with variety of inbuilt applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo and Nimbuzz (an instant messenger that supports MSN, Yahoo, Skype).
Handset market
Indian handset brands together own about 25 per cent of the handset market but most of it has so far come from the low-end to mid-end segment. “Indian brands have a weak brand image when it comes to the urban youth and also there is a perception that Chinese-made devices are of low quality. But companies like Micromax are now looking to break this perception,” says a market analyst.
Micromax, which had started out with a phone with a 30-hour battery life aimed at the power-deficient rural sector, has now put in place a two-year marketing plan to catch the young mobile phone brigade.
The handset maker was the first among Indian brands to launch a co-branded music phone with MTV. Recently, Micromax launched the A70 phone with Android 2.3 in direct competition with the likes of HTC.
“Micromax will adopt penetration pricing in urban market because placing our product at a lower cost will serve our purpose and make the customer rethink before buying other competitors products such as Nokia and Samsung,” says a Micromax internal marketing presentation. In addition, the handset maker is driving urban uptake through targeted promotions such as hoarding and banners outside colleges and malls.
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