That Chinese smartphones maker Gionee is focussing lot of attention on Indian market, is proved by the fact that yesterday, their flagship phablet Elife E7 was launched at the grand event at Buddh International Racing Circuit in Greater Noida, where media persons and channel pratners across the country were invited. There was a huge gathering of approximately 700 persons. The launch event was preceded by car racing, which the gathered audience enjoyed a lot. Gionee was able to create bonhomie all around and the gathered guests entertained themselves with dancing to the tunes of hit Bollywood songs. So far so good for festivities.
The serious event was in the evening when Gionee unveiled its premium Elife E7 phabelt and also announced Mini Elfie E7, which is the stripped down version of the Elife E7. The unveiling of Elife E7 Mini was gloabal launch and Gionee promised that in future all the new product launches will be held simultaneously in China and India. This is definitely in response to good traction received by Gionee since its set its shop in India in February, 2013.
Gionee has started business in India just nine months ago and in short span of time, has achieved sales figure of Rs. 250 crores, as claimed by the company. The company has further made a tall claim that it aspires to become number one brand in India, and the fifth brand in the global market, in the coming five years. Can they really achieve this? Let us see what Gionee has been doing in China. Gionee currently sells over 23 million handsets per year in China mainland and has been ranked No. 2 brand in the GSM market. Besides China, Gionee is also selling in India, Bangladesh,Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Russia, Middle East and Africa, with exports reaching 1 million phones per month for oversea markets. In other words, it is very successful in China and emerging markets. Gionee has capacity of manufacturing 40 million units per year and this will be increased to 80 million units per year.
Currently, Gionee has market share of less than 2% in India, but considering that it is just 9 months old company in India, this is commendable. But to compete for number one position in India, Gionee will have to take on with established players like Samsung, which is very aggressive in India, and other smartphones vendors like LG,Sony, who are also becoming very active in India. And of course, one should not forget Indian handsets makers like Micromax,Xolo,Karbonn etc,. who are also investing a lot on their business to get maximum slice of the smartphone pie.
It is good news for Gionee that its products are getting huge response in India, but whether this success will catapult them to number one position, could be anybody’s guess. For achieving this milestone, they will have to sustain their dominance in products developments, and also will have to come out with innovative hardware and software feaures. Besides this, they will have to change the perception of the Indian consumers that Chinese products can be relied upon and are as solid and dependable as any other product manufactured by the leading brands in other countries.
Only time will tell how Gionee story develops in the coming months and years, but the way, they have started their journey, their future looks bright in India, and this is going to be another success story, which will get lot of media attention in the coming days.
