Chinese handset maker Vivo is not too concerned about the current economic slowdown in the country; it expects growth to be in higher single digits till the rest of the year, on the back of new launches and an aggressive marketing strategy.
“In the first half of the year, the industry has grown by about 7-9 per cent. While there has been some kind of impact, it is still growing. We expect the same, going into the festive season. You will see the same trend to continue,” Vivo India director of Brand Strategy Nipun Marya told The Morning Standard. In comparison, IDC data showed that smartphone sales in India grew from a tad 5 per cent in 2016 (the demonetisation year) to 14 per cent each in 2017 and 2018.
Speaking at the launch of the company’s latest offering, V17 Pro, Marya said Vivo is poised to grow faster than the industry, notwithstanding the slowdown, driven by budgeted smartphones.
“We lined up six new products ahead of the festive season, some of which are already launched. We see the markets more skewed towards sub-Rs15,000 range of smartphones and the industry volumes will be driven by this price segment,” he said.
However, Marya added that Vivo is more focused on the Rs 20,000-30,000 price segment and that he believes this segment will drive values for all brands.
The BBK Electronics-owned company is on an expansion spree as it has already launched new smartphones under the new Z-series and the S-series, and is set to launch smartphones under the U-series next week ahead of the festive season.
The company has just finished its first phase of expansion, adding 8.4 million units to take the company’s total phone making capacity to 33.4 million annually. With the demand for smartphones set to increase significantly in the future, Vivo plans to invest another Rs 3,500 crore more to expand its manufacturing capacity in Greater Noida.
“This is the company’s third investment and will take its total commitment in manufacturing to about Rs 7,500 crore (nearly $1 billion), to happen in multiple phases,” Marya said.
Vivo saw 31.6% growth in Q2
As per the data from premier global market intelligence company IDC, Vivo, India’s third-largest brand after Xiaomi and Samsung, saw a strong year-on-year growth of 31.6 per cent in the second quarter of financial year 2018-19 to corner 15.1 per cent market share, up from 12.6 per cent share a year-ago.