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Country’s second largest smartphone-maker Micromax said the company expects to sell around 25 per cent of its smartphones through online sites such as Snapdeal and Flipkart in the next two years, compared with 10 per cent now.
“Many people are comfortable shopping through online markets and we are selling different products with different portals. We have partnerships with almost all online players. As many smartphones sell in the future, the online shopping will also go up,” Vineet Taneja, Chief Executive Officer, Micromax, told reporters here. A number of phone brands, including Motorola and Xiaomi, are selling only through online medium.
However, he also said that Micromax will continue to be an offline seller as many of the consumers still prefer to buy from retailers, especially the feature-phone buyers.
For example, the company that launched its latest smartphone – Canvas Nitro A310 priced at ₹12,990 – exclusively through Snapdeal on Monday, will also go on the shelf of offline stores over the next few weeks.
A310 featuresPowered by 1.7 GHz Tru Octa Core processor, the new handset has five-inch HD screen and runs on Android KitKat 4.4. The Canvas Nitro comes with innovative software features such as QuickLook, Smart Alerts, all-in-one camera widget (13 MP rear and 5MP front) and customised gestures. It has 8 GB memory, which is expandable up to 32GB and 2500 mAh battery.
Taneja said the company will launch two more products for the festive season this month, including the ‘Android One’ handset on September 15, and those products would also be sold through online and offline stores.
4G devicesTalking about future handsets, Taneja said Micromax was also working on 4G devices, which would be launched over the next six months.
On the split between feature phones and smartphones, he said 60 per cent of the total volume comes from feature phones. As of second quarter, Micromax sold 87 lakh units, out of which 54 lakh were feature phones. The company sold 73 lakh units in the second quarter 2013, out of which 41 lakh were feature phones.
Revenue wise, the company grew 40 per cent on year-on-year basis to ₹2,745 crore in the second quarter this year as compared with ₹1,959 crore in the corresponding period last year.
According to independent research firm, IDC, India imported around 632.10 lakh units of mobile phones in the second quarter this year.
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