Millet difficult to copy in India, "Chinese-style success"

According to the website of the Hindu newspaper July 15, it is reported that Xiaomi, a company with the name of "Chinese apple," has entered the Indian market with a correct price orientation. However, it remains to be seen whether the success of millet in China will be duplicated.

Chinese vendors have a place in the Indian smartphone market in the past two years. Companies such as Lenovo, Gionee and Oppo have flooded into the Indian market. Chinese technology company millet settled formally changed the Indian market in the past two years microcosm.

First, no vendor in India, apart from Apple, can have a stable share of the high-end market. Many vendors are grabbing market share by launching "high-end handsets" that cost less than Rs 20,000. Secondly, with the upgrade of the smartphone hardware and software, the prices of different grades of smartphones have been correspondingly lowered, but the quality has not dropped significantly.

Micromax, Karbonn and Nokia and other manufacturers to follow the new market price order, the flagship mobile phone price of 15,000 to 25,000 rupees (about 1550-2583 yuan), mid-range mobile phone price of 10,000 to 15,000 rupees (about 1033 -1550 yuan), low-end mobile phone prices lower than 7000 rupees (about 723 yuan).

Although Xiaomi phones are able to adapt to these changes, they will not necessarily succeed in copying the China model in India. The following points deserve our attention:

Business Model: The "secret" of the cheap millet phone is that it is sold at almost the cost. Millet makes money by selling accessories, web services and apps. But Indians are not willing to spend money on the application, so this model does not work in India.

Marketing: Another reason for the low price of millet phones is their low marketing spend. In China, millet can be advertised through free media. But in India, advertising budgets will inevitably increase unless millet can persuade cooperative e-commerce Flipkart out of some of its promotional spending.

Company name: not as well-known as Lenovo, after only Indian hobby technology know the name of millet. In order to increase its popularity, Xiaomi needs to conduct marketing activities like Huawei, or find ways to Indianize its name and bring it closer to Indians.

Product Strategy: Although the price of millet positioning is correct, but the millet 3 is already a year ago model, and millet 4 is about to be launched within two months, then why wait until the millet 4 listing and then stationed in the Indian market? It is undeniable fact that Xiaomi Company can not meet the demand of Chinese market. Whether millet can meet the needs of the Indian market is also an important issue.

Patent Issues: India's lack of protection of intellectual property is the reason for Xiaomi's presence in the Indian market. However, in the past two years there have been lawsuits filed to defend intellectual property rights. Micromax and Intex, the local Indian smartphone companies, are litigating with Ericsson. Millet may also fall into similar litigation disputes.

If Xiaomi's network sales strategy is taken into consideration, Xiaomi's major rivals will obviously be Samsung, HTC in the high-end market and Motorola in the low-end market (even Lenovo). Indian mobile phone market will usher in the melee of major mobile phone manufacturers, which is likely to lead to the reorganization of the Indian market structure.