Brand Building Initiatives
The new handset vendors are also very conscious about their brands and ready with their brand building initiatives for 2010. Micromax is planning around Rs 100 crore for the brand building initiatives in the next two to three years.

Similarly, for Movil Mobile it's an ongoing exercise. The company is going to put 5% of its top line in brand building. On the other side, Jaina Group has earmarked a budget of Rs 100 crore for the current fiscal. Channel and consumer promotions have also been launched to provide a 360° marketing support to further Karbonn brand.

Fly Mobile is currently ramping up its branding, sales and marketing activities through a series of above-and below-the-line marketing activities, so as to effectively get across its message to its diverse target audiences. Fly Mobile is also open to multi brand store approach.

Distribution Strategy
These new companies are fast realizing that to strengthen their position in the market, strong distribution strategy is required. Movil Mobile is going pan- India. The low-end will cater to the rural markets whereas the mid and high-end will be sold in the top 5,000 shops by their promoters.

Kumar of Meridian Mobile says, "As of now we have channel partners in top 100 cities. Besides the metros, our endeavor is to establish presence across all important B & C class cities in India."

For Micromax, its distribution strategy is to 'sell deep to sell more'. "We intend to penetrate more into the rural areas in class-C and the D cities and also expand further in metros, and class-A and B cities. Operational tie-ups with large formal retail chains shall enable us get the next set of customers. We are also betting big on the other technological solutions like CDMA and 3G solutions. Also, we intend to align with major operational carriers of India to reach to the next set of customers," says Jain of Micromax.

Karbonn Mobile is currently available through 50,000 outlets across the country and is planning to double this number by the end of current fiscal. The company is also planning to have around five to ten Karbonn mobile stores in all major states of the country.

Sales & After
Aftersales service is one area where the established brands score more than the regional players. However, the new handset players are ready with their after sales service plans. Karbonn is being supported through an extensive network of more than 350 services centers spread across the country. Of these, more than 150 are dedicated Karbonn mobile phone service centers and around 200 are being supported by service partners, Salora & Accel.

Micromax also has a unique product service set-up and offers a toll free telephone number for complaint registration. Micromax also provides onsite service in most of the Indian cities. 200 Micromax touch points which are product support engineers are spread in approximately 150 Indian cities. The company operates through more than 400 service centers operational in about 250 cities and is looking at increasing its number to 700 before the end of this fiscal.

Fly Mobile has 340 plus aftersales service partners in India that take care of the customers support requirements.

"Movil Mobile has a multi vendor service network. We have more than one vendor in a single city servicing our phones. We also have a very strong tele-calling operation to track every phone," says Khanna of Movil Mobile.

On the Green Bandwagon
The entire telecom industry is talking about going green and the handset space is no exception. Leading handset makers like Nokia and Samsung are focusing on green handset segment and now the new regional players are also following the footsteps.

For Micromax, internal R&D on this subject is on and it is evaluating how it can make a difference to the environment in particular and society in general.

Karbonn Mobile is proactively working towards making its gadget greener and using materials and components that are eco-friendly. On the other hand, Movil Mobile is coming out with long life batteries which are their first step towards a green ecosystem for its phones. The company also has an efficient power management system in its phone, ensuring long life batteries.

Commenting on the same Kumar says, "We are following the global trends as well. Slimmer phones, smaller parts, slimmer batteries, paper gift boxes and smaller chargers, etc, are proof enough that we too are going green in our approach."

Plans for 2010
Karbonn mobile has invested nearly $5 mn in product development and marketing and sales operation. The company has also earmarked a marketing budget of Rs 100 crore for the current fiscal. On the expansion front, Karbonn has been launched in India with a distribution network covering around 80% of districts in states all over India. The launch initiative has also been completed with Bangladesh already covered and it is all set to cover Sri Lanka and Nepal as well. It also intends to launch Karbonn brands in the Middle East and Africa in Q4 2010.

In the first phase of 2010, Movil Mobile is planning to launch 10 new GSM and CDMA handsets and in the second phase it is planning to introduce fifteen handsets by the end of March 2010. The company further plans to adopt a direct retail model for the distribution of its mobile phones and also expecting a sales volume of over 1.5 mn phones by the end of the next fiscal.

Micromax is eyeing a turnover of Rs 1,500 crore by the end of this fiscal, and Rs 3,000 crore for the next year. The company is planning to reach out to its customers through 70,000 operational stores in the coming year and also looking forward to open its exclusive outlets.

Challenges Ahead
As these new players are expanding very rapidly in the Indian market, they are also facing a number of challenges. Some of the issues are acceptability of the high-end designer phones with upcoming EVDO and 3G technologies. Besides, changing government policies throw a new challenge every day. Varying state taxes are also a big issue for these regional players.

But the first and foremost challenge for the new players would be to establish their brand in India and fulfill whatever they have committed. These companies do realize the fact that they are new entrants in the market, which already has some well entrenched brands. So, the biggest challenge is to stand out of the clutter in terms of superior offerings, enhanced services, and a wider reach.

Arpita Prem
arpitap@cybermedia.co.in

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