The smartphone sales in India have increased in terms of value and volume this festive season year-on-year over the same period. This is due to the demand for sub-Rs 20,000 devices which has generated both in retail and e-commerce platforms thanks to the frequent discount offers.
The handset manufacturers, industry insiders and most of the retailers have said that the festival season offers that commenced from Navratras and went on till Diwali has raised the sales for the month by a minimum 40% which has brought a positive trend for the Q4 2016. The quarter usually accounts up for almost a fourth or fifth of the annual revenue for the industry.
Subhajit Sen, who is the Chief Marketing officer at Micromax Informatics, said that while compared this year’ festival season sales with last year’s, the company has witnessed 40 percent of the increase in actual sales by volume. The figures are as per the consumer activations for Micromax smartphones, while the combined results of Micromax and Yu mobiles indicates the sales up by 60 percent, Sen added.
The industry insiders have stated that the market leader Samsung mobiles’ sales have risen by about 40 percent over the same period last year. The consumer electronics sales were up to 30 percent, however, the company has not revealed the numbers for each category.
The Indian smartphone makers Intex mobiles and Karbonn mobiles have witnessed sales up by 14 percent and 20 percent, respectively. While the Chinese OEMs such as Xiaomi, LeEco, and the Japanese co. Panasonic has witnessed their sales more than double this festive season against the last year.
The huge rise in sales in offline as well as online retail stores during this Diwali season is the result of heavy consumer demand as well as the numerous smartphone launches by top handset makers and new Chinese competitors. The increased sales are also seen due to the higher purchasing power because of a good monsoon this year. In addition, the trend of 4G VoLTE mobiles has forced consumers to buy a new device for unleashing the latest technology.
The major competition in smartphone segment has been witnessed in the Rs 8,000-20,000 price band, said by a chief executive of leading retail chains in India. More players have entered this year in Rs 10,000-12,000, Rs 15,000, and Rs 18,000 price points.
The strong demand for smartphones this year during the festival season has put some relief to the industry which was concerned due to smaller sales in the first half of the year. Fewer consumers had moved from feature phones to smartphones during this time, but the festive season has made up the sales figures both in value and volume.
The raise-up demand and exclusive smartphone deals on various e-commerce channels have recorded enormous sales revenue during festival sales. For instance, Oppo F1 on Snapdeal or OnePlus 3 on Amazon India. The e-commerce website, Flipkart has stated that they have amassed $500 million from the sale of 15.5 million units which accounts largely by smartphones and televisions.