For some, it’s a ‘U-turn’ to be back in the business but it was a ‘V-turn’ for vivo India in the journey of becoming 2nd leader in the smartphone industry. Who could believe, following simple things could zoom the market share from dipping 5.8% in Q1 of 2018 to 20.7% in Q4 of 2019?
While the rise in percentage within a year is intriguing in itself, interestingly the brand also pipped its South Korean rival Samsung to become the second biggest smartphone maker after Xiaomi. Making progress in the same process at present, vivo is the second biggest player in India, to occupies the same ranking in its motherland behind Huawei. With a lot more accomplishments in its way, let’s read what ideas & energy helped to create this boom through the excerpts from the ‘Veni, Vidi, Vici?’ an article by Forbes India in detailing their interaction with Mr. Jerome Chen, the CEO of vivo India.
Slow Is The New Fast
Vivo jumped into the Indian market in 2014 with a swift but creating an identity among competitors from dragon land on the same ground was challenging. “At first, Vivo’s beginning was muted, people perceived Chinese brands to be of low quality & cheap”, recalls Mr. Jerome Chen.
In such circumstances, wining trust & tackling the perception of people was a bigger challenge for the brand in India. But as the acceptance was overdue, Jerome Chen with his distributors from China branched across India to understand the need for the local market. They started their process by targeting the offline market. Appointing VBAs (Vivo Brand Ambassadors) & smooth performing devices increased the sale from 100 units a day to 71,000 units per day. Soon VBAs became their one of the strength & made them the face of the brand. Their first interaction with consumers & fulfilling their needs formed trust and expanded the retail business of vivo. At the same time as gaining the trust of customers overdue, zero complaints from the handsets played a key role in bringing up the bar.
On the other hand, Chen’s strategy of a decentralized form of structure in each state fueled the retail game at the local level. Allowing personalized framework for distribution and marketing strategy in a particular region won the loyalty of brick –and-mortar retailers and high profit margins were the icing on the cake of partnership.
Also, Mr Chen mentioned that doing things simpler is always a great idea. Adhering to the same, while the market clutter focused on flaunting their camera, vivo focused on music & this gambit worked in improving their position all along.
Being Future Ready Is Master Key
India is a developing country & during the settling years of vivo, the Indian ecosystem was changing its adaptation from a 3G to 4G network. “The timing was right & the market was ripe for vivo. Being ready with 4G handsets also proved to be a big blessing” quoted Mr Tarun Pathak, associate director at Counterpoint Research. This planning helped vivo in standing out from the market and deliver the advanced device to smartphone consumers.
The best example to it also stands with the yesteryear’s vivo V15Pro and V17Pro gained its popularity for its pop-up mechanism & world’s first 6 camera smartphone.
Values That Make It A Winner
“How we can improve the brand perception and improve our customers’ understanding?” is the first challenge for a brand to build its identity. In a place where people perceived Chinese products to be of bad quality, cheap and that most of them came to India to make money; Chen commented: “We had a strong belief that we can change how consumers view Chinese brands.” This belief was molded to a reality by following core values of the brand i.e. following the consumer instead of a competitor. They had a space to understand the consumer better than anybody and bring innovative products to meet their needs and thus making them a clear winner.
There’s always a sweetness of success when you keep it basic to reach large people & care about the satisfaction of its stakeholders viz. customers, retailers, shareholders, and employees. Quoting on the same, Mr. Nipun Marya (Brand Strategy Director of vivo India) added, “We believe in doing the right things, and then doing the things right. In a condition where happiness is a pre-condition, vivo stepped ahead with their core values & follow initial goals. The first one was to survive 5 years in India & it’s about last year when they had the grand celebration of this achievement. Another plan was to make up a talent output center in India for vivo Global and this too has happened now.”
At last, sharing thoughts on surviving the COVID-19 outbreak, the CEO said, “Our culture as a company has been to overcome difficult times. Sometimes we do make mistakes. But it depends on how you overcome them and how fast you correct them. Whether we are in China or India or any other country, it is time to check our culture and a strong belief that we can all come together and overcome this difficult situation.”
Concluding it all, we firmly believe “Success is not what you have, but who you are” for vivo India as the organization, the blue color will always empower their motto ‘Love India, Love vivo’.
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