Recently the market research firm Sino released a market report about the Chinese smartphone market. One of its major conclusions is that the market share of Apple, Samsung and other global brands has declined to 13.3% in August, while last year this market share was clocked at 21%. This is a clear indication that those global brands have lost an important slice of the market share to Chinese smartphone companies.
In contrast, and looking back at Chinese smartphone companies, you’ll find that they have increased market share from 79% to 86.7%. A possible reason behind this is that these Chinese companies are putting huge efforts in the offline sales channel – a channel that increased by 23.6%, comparing to least year.
Chinese Smartphone Sales Are Up
Using the unique advantages offered by that offline channel, the GHOV group (comprised by Gionee, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, four of the biggest Chinese smartphone brands) has a currently strong stance in the domestic market, occupying the top four seats. Gionee, on its own, has now been occupying a top four position in the offline sales market for nine months in a row.
Another report, this one by DIGITIMES Research, predicts that, in the 2017 global smartphone market, Gionee, Oppo and Vivo will have a shipment growth rate above 15% on both online and offline markets, which is huge. Take Gionee, for example – a company that has had a continuous development of its offline sales channels, casting a big web around China.
Throughout the whole country, from big to smaller cities, Gionee has over 100,000 corporate sales point, more than 70k special areas, and over three hundred thousand sales counters, exporting to more than 40 countries and regions around the world, and its smartphones are now being sold by eight telecom carriers outside China.
How? By Focusing on Offline Channels
Making products that users love, and an excellent penetration on offline channels, are important factors for GHOV’s success. Analysis from the Chinese mobile phone market reveal the tendency for the GHOV being in a leading position, proofed by something that the steady growth and development of these companies corroborates clearly.
In the future, the biggest growth momentum of the smartphone market will come from the demand on emerging markets, such as South and Southeast Asia, South America, Africa and other regions, with a large number of functional mobile phone users turning to smartphones, and these regions requiring a greater focus for an offline market channel.
The efforts that Chinese smartphone companies put into offline markets are snagging them larger market shares and, in the near future, this sales strategy will likely be adopted by more and more smartphone companies, further confirming its success.
