To give a perspective how large the global smartphone business is, last year alone a total of 1.388 billion units were shipped out. The number is set to increase this year as more customers rush to switch from analogue phones globally with more entry level smartphones offering competitive price enter the market. The demand in the segment has given rise to mostly Chinese brands looking to capture the market but instead of using their exciting brand they have all decided to launch sub brands. A peculiar strategy that have shown positive results thus far.
Brands that currently have sub brands include Huawei with Honor, ZTE with Nubia, Xiaomi has Poco, Black Shark and Redmi while Oppo has Realme. All the brands are successful in their own right, most of them are young with Realme just a year old, the basis if this strategy has given the parent company to keep relevant with the young audience and craft a separate story line for the brands. Indicative of this style of business strategy and a recent success story is, Realme.
Born out of desire and passion, Realme shot to fame just after a year in existence generating global shipment of 4.7 million units worldwide, an astounding 848% leap. The secret lies in its ability to deliver performance rich smartphones with really affordable prices. It also employs light asset philosophy meaning to keep overheads low operating mainly on ecommerce and short channel mode so that the savings can be passed on to customers.
Founder, CEO Sky Li who left Oppo to start Realme, emphasised on creating products using a ‘Dare to Leap’ concept by giving consumers exceptional products but without the over pricing factor. This could have been the reason the phones have enjoyed success in over 20 markets including China, Europe, India, South-east Asia and Russia, with India recording staggering growth and can we again add that all this took place in just 12 months.
With 2/3 of the world population residing in this part of the planet, China is constantly looking to come close in conquering the smartphone market with these splinter brands. And Realme is the proof in this pudding.
