LIME 6 Case Study Gionee India New

CASE STUDY IIM-I • ELECTRONICS • GIONEE INDIA

GIONEE INDIA CASE STUDY

About Gionee • Established in 2002,Gionee Communication Communication Equipment Co. Ltd is a hi-tech company engaging in mobile device designing, R&D, manufacturing, sales in international markets, and mobile internet application ser vices. Gionee sells over 23 million handsets per year worldwide and ranks No.10 in the world by smartphone marketshare • Gionee has always believed in an integrated integrated business approach approach and has therefore based its biz on its 3 pillars of strength being Own Design / Own Manufacturing / Own R&D. A close association with MediaTek MediaTek and Qualcomm allows Gionee to offer a wide product portfolio por tfolio covering both feature and smartphones • Gionee over the years has believed in keeping innovation as its core value proposition which has helped helped the company’s company’s growth over the last decade. Research & Development is an institution with over 2000 employees. A state of the ar t Inhouse manufacturing unit ensures Gionee products deliver more than the best to its customers, creating new benchmarks of quality each time • Since 2011, Gionee moved rapidly to expand its presence into India, Nigeria, Vietnam, Vietnam, Taiwan, Taiwan, Myanmar, Myanmar, Thailand, Philippines, and so on. Gionee products are currently 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

Important Facts: • Gionee India started India operations in the month of March, 2013 • In first 13 months of operation, Gionee did a business of 75 million US$ by import import value • From inception till Aug 2014 2014 Gionee did a business of of million 247 US$ by import value • Mobile Handset is the most most cluttered market in India with almost almost 200 brands fighting fighting for the marketshare marketshare • Gionee will be opening opening 250 Exclusive Exclusive brand stores stores and 750+ Service centers across India India by 2015 March • Gionee has already sold sold over 3 million phones in India within 18 months and and is constantly selling over 10K+daily

India Mobile Market: • India was the highest highest growing market in Asia Pacific with a year-on-year year-on-year smartphone shipment growth of over 186% in 1Q 2014. The vast majority of the country's user base migrated to smartphones from feature phones and as a result Indian smartphone market outshone other emerging markets like China which registered a year-on-year growth of 31% in 1Q 2014 • The smartphone penetration in India still hovers at 10% and it is expected to grow due to a variety of factors including greater availability of low-cost devices and additional sales emphasis by top-flight vendors on less populous par ts of the country • Over all India mobile phone phone market stood at close to 61.07 million units in 1Q 2014 which is a 10% quarter-on-quarter dip and a mere1% year-on-year growth • The India smartphone smartphone market market grew by a whopping 186% 186% year-on-ye year-on-year ar in 1Q 2014 • India smartphone shipments will reach 80.57 million units by the end of CY2014. Anaylists expect Indian Indian smartphone market will grow at a CAGR of about 40% for the next 5 years

Project “ Riding Data ”: “How should Gionee position itself in the Indian Smartphone Smartph one Market” Since its inception, Gionee has been able to create a lot of myths and create new ground rules. The quest now will be to create a new benchmark. • Gionee offers offers smartphones smartphones starting from 6k-28k 6k-28k across across various various segments segments • Gionee has always always believed in offering offering quality at par with the best at a price that’s right

GIONEE INDIA CASE STUDY

• Gionee has 23 smartphones smartphones already in the market and plans plans to launch 15-20 by the end of 2015. • Gionee’s flagship series series ELIFE E & S series have some of of the most successful devices. The The ELIFE E series focuses focuses on camera features and S series concentrates primarily on style. • When Gionee entered India in Feb Feb 2013 it was percieved as “Just “Just another brand from from China”. • Within 18 months months of operation Gionee is today considered considered as “Global brand of China” giving stiff stiff competition to to the Multinational and Home grown brands. • Gionee has received extremely extremely positive reviews both from market & consumers for its products and pricing throughout. throughout. • The brand is considered as an innovator & game changer due to its innovative product offerings like ELIFE E7, ELIFE S5.5, ELIFE E7 Mini, ELIFE E6 and wide spread distribution strategy through conventional brick and mor tar route • While many popular brands are reaching out to consumers consumers only through online space, Gionee focuses primarily primarily focus on retails and will also be launching on 250 brand stores by next year. • Breaking the myth in India, Gionee focuses on service as a key pillar and will have have 750 service centers across India by 2015 creating trust in its consumers mind. • India is the 2nd most most important market for Gionee both in terms of sales sales and operations. operations. • Gionee is one of the only only select brands in Indian market who have not dropped prices of its flagship flagship products as the brand believes in launching the product at a right price. • Gionee is looking to to be amongst top top 3 Indian brands by 2016 and in long term to be seen as an iconic global global brand. • Gionee has also been known as a brand who do not believe in following the norm in all campaigns they have created till now including media launches, Advt., Digital or Media.

Understanding Brand Health and Motivators Barriers for Gionee

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Gionee started their international branding first in China mainland in 2005

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Established in 2002 as a company that was engaged in mobile device designing, R&D, manufacturing, sales in international markets, and offering mobile internet application service

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By 2011, had an overall market share of 7.2%, and GSM market share of 11.2%, putting them in third place of the overall cellular market and first place in Chinese domestic market

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India operations launched in 2011, currently selling their products here in India

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Considerable spends made in media in last 6 months and products launched with unique product features

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Further, till today, the client’s marketing strategy has been to showcase specific products/ features in India; focus has been lower on building the “mother brand”, so far. Given the ‘nascent stage’ for Gionee, client wants to invest in the brand building exercise now. Therefore, one of the asks from this research is to identify platforms on which brand could be built

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To these ends, a 2-fold Quantitative and Qualitative market research exercise was undertaken by GfK. The following slides highlight the key from the research exercise


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What are consumer perceptions of Brand Gionee and Competition smartphone brands like Nokia, Samsung, Sony and Micromax?

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Who are the Gionee phone users? What are their lifestyles, dreams, fears, smartphone requirements and payoffs? 

Triggers for purchase of Gionee smartphones: what do they seek from a new Brand like Gionee? What will make them continue?

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What are the Barriers towards Gionee smartphones purchase? (among competition phone users- Gionee Rejecters and Gionee Aware Nonconsiderers)

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What is the Usage experience of Gionee, per se and vs. competition brands?

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Keeping in mind the above, interactions conducted with 3 different sets of Consumers 

(Recruited from Database) – using Gionee phones for the past 6 months at least

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Consumers who considered Gionee, but finally opted for either a Nokia, Samsung, Sony or a Micromax, bought in the last 6 months

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Consumers who are aware of Gionee, but did not consider the phone. Owners of Nokia, Samsung, Sony or Micromax, bought in the last 6 months


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Gionee Users (DIs)

1 DI- Student(1520 yrs), SEC A, Female

1 DI- Student(1520 yrs), SEC B, Male


1 DIHousewives (2530 yrs), SEC A, Male

1 DI- Student(1520 yrs), SEC B, Female

1 DIHousewives (2530 yrs), SEC B, Female

1 DI – Working Professional (2130 yrs), SEC B, Male

1 DI- Student(1520 yrs), SEC A, Male

1 DI – Working Professional (2130 yrs), SEC B, Male

1 DI- Housewives (25-30 yrs), SEC A, Female

1 DI – Working Professional (2130 yrs), SEC A, Male





1 DI- Student(1520 yrs), SEC A, Male



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Gionee Rejecters (DIs)

1 DI – Working Professional (21-30 yrs), SEC B, Male SONY

1 DI – Working Professional (2130 yrs), SEC B, Male NOKIA

1 DIStudent(1520 yrs), SEC B, Male, NOKIA

1 DI- Student(1520 yrs), SEC B, Female, SAMSUNG

1 DI – Working Professional (21-30 yrs), SEC A, Male SAMSUNG

1 DI- Student(1520 yrs), SEC A, Female, MICROMAX

1 DIStudent(15-20 yrs), SEC A, Male, NOKIA

1 DI- Student(15-20 yrs), SEC A, Female SONY

1 DI- Housewives (25-30 yrs), SEC A, Female SAMSUNG

1 DI- Student(1520 yrs), SEC B, Male NOKIA

1 DIHousewives (25-30 yrs), SEC A, Female SONY

1 DI – Working Professional (2130 yrs), SEC A, Male MICROMAX

1 DI- Housewives (25-30 yrs), SEC B, Female MICROMAX

1 DI- Single(25-30 yrs), SEC B, Female SAMSUNG

1 DI – Working Professional (21-30 yrs), SEC B, Male SAMSUNG

1 DI – Working Professional (21-30 yrs), SEC A, Male NOKIA


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Aware Non Considerers (MGDs)

1 MGD Student(15-20 yrs), SEC A & B, Males

1 MGDHousewives (2530 yrs), SEC A & B, Females

1 MGD – Working Professional (2130 yrs), SEC A & B, Males


1 MGD Student(15-20 yrs), SEC A & B, Males


1 MGD Student(15-20 yrs), SEC A & B, Females


1 MGD Student(15-20 yrs), SEC A & B, Females



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consumers (11 met across centers) : Mix of students, working professionals and businessmen

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The working professionals were working with Aditya Birla (Customer Care Executive), Speed Post Department (Sorting Assistant)

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A few businessmen were in businesses like fashion jewellery wholesaling, vegetable wholesaling

Key hobbies :Playing cricket, , theatre (horror movies), playing games on mobile or internet , watching TV (Sports, News), travelling (within India - Goa, Kullu Manali), music

, watching movies in the

consumers (6 met across centers) were a mix of housewives (3 housewives), student (2 students met studying in 10th and 12th Standards) and working women

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Housewives, apart from managing their homes, also engaged in part time businesses like running a computer center, teaching basics of MS DOS etc. The Working Woman was a self employed beautician 

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Hobbies: Reading novels (detective novels), listening to music, watching TV (Roadies, Splits villa, Big Boss, Jhalak Dikhlaa Ja) , watching movies, cooking, hanging out with friends, going to restaurants

Students were interested in sports like Badminton or going for dance classes (Western dance) along with social networking (Whatsapp, FB), watching MTV and spending time with friends


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and Seek the advice of family and close friends while taking decisions – Young consumers were looking at doing something different in their life to bring a change to their current circumstances. Not looking for leading an ordinary life. Experiences which can give them a high. Jungle safaris, watching horror movies, experimenting with new cuisines – especially prevalent in Male consumers in Kolkata and Coimbatore Being straight forward, they don’t believe in flaunting wealth/status etc. Hence, seek to they always don’t follow a trend. For example, while it’s quite common for the early jobbers to go to night clubs, pubs during the weekend, the Gionee users rather prefer to spend time with family, go on car rides with friends etc. : impulsive decisions.

consent of family/friends important in decision making. Younger consumers often guided by decisions taken by family (in caree r/education/purchases).

won’t take

will weigh the return on investment (seek value for every penny spent). from people around:Important when making purchases. Male respondents-more exploratory & would do a thorough research (comparing prices, features etc on various websites/shops) before ma king the final purchase.


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“I

” Male, Jaipur

“It is very important for me since childhood, that I have a mindset, I always had in mind to get into a job post marriage.” Female Kolkata

“ & employ staff who will run the show. I want to lead a stress free life. I will take rest, go out with my wife.” Male, Mumbai “

” Male, Mumbai

“I conduct tuition classes Jaipur

“ I have never listened to any advice from my father or sisters” Male, Kolkata

” Male,

“I .” Female, Delhi “ but since there are many in the family who are in the Army & my father insisted that I join the army, I did so. Now I feel I have to go on.” Male, Shillong “First of all I want to be a business tycoon” Male, Shillong “

“Weekend means going out to ”

” Male, Shillong

Male, Coimbatore

“ …now I want to visit the jungles of Africa ” Male, Kolkata


“ …because they use latest technology to make these movies” Male, Coimbatore Page 10


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Risk Averse (Sony)

Responsible & balanced

Status Conscious (Samsung) Attention seekers (Samsung, Sony, Nokia) Trend Setters (Nokia, Samsung) Seek quality but highly brand-conscious too Confident (Samsung, Sony, Nokia)

Pragmatic, take thought-through decisions Emotional at core, yet practical; Not just swayed by badge value

Flamboyant (Samsung, Sony)


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“I was watching a movie and saw the ad of Gionee ” Male, Nagpur “Saw the Gionee ad on TV” Male, Shillong

“My Uncle has a phone shop…he said Gionee is an emerging brand and people are asking for it” Female, Delhi “I asked my friends, they said Gionee is a good brand and has iPhone like features, you can buy” Female, Mumbai

I have seen it’s ad in Dainik Bhaskar ” Male, Jaipur

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“I have seen this brand when I saw Khatron ke Khiladi …we kept that in mind and visited the shop” Female, Mumbai

have played a major role in generating awareness of Gionee across centers like Jaipur, Shillong, Delhi, Nagpur and Mumbai.

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“I have seen this mobile first on the internet…and then I went to the shop and checked the mobile” Male, Coimbatore “I wanted a phone with 5.5 screen and I typed in Google to see which brands have that and that is where I first saw Gionee ” Female, Kolkata “I came across Gionee in the mobile internet site” Male, Kolkata

Most could recall the slimmest phone ad and a few features like 13 MP camera and metal body , awareness was generated by

Interestingly, all 4 users in Coimbatore and Kolkata have


who are currently Gionee users along with promotions and advertisements, both TV and Print Advertising and TV sponsorships not too salient

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“We can slowlytrust the brand because of their advertisement strategy and because of sponsorship for many programs …they give gifts during promotions in Malls andother places” (Male, Jaipur) “you cansee their advertisements and hoardings everywhere on the road” (Male, Jaipur) “it has launched world’s slimmest phone with 16 megapixel cameera” (Male, Jaipur) “it has many features and in the near feature it will give tough competition in the market” (Male, Jaipur)

“I t hin k it i s a Ch ine se co mpa ny, and in India they h ave an office, their network is good” (Male, Coimbatore) “Gionee is emerging and coming up” Female, Delhi “Overall it is a good company in Asia, it exports it’s phone from China …it has been launched new in India” Male, Delhi

“it is a good brand which h as launched phones at a reasonable rate” (Male, Jaipur) “Features in Gionee were more but price was less …And inSamsungif weseefor more features price also becomes more” (Female, Delhi) “it is a value for money brand” (Male, Baroda)

“Gionee is a new, popular great brand …it i s n umbe r 2 o r 3 in t he world” Female, Mumbai

“I mostly like the style of Gionee…it has a complete metal body …and recently they have launched th e world’s slimmest phone” (Male, Shillong)

Very strong association Moderate strong association Understanding Brand Health and Motivators Barriers for Gionee

“Gionee not only gives you what they saybut beyond …I have been using G3for 11 monhs and h ave not faced a single problem” (Male, Baroda)

“It does not have many service centers” (Female, Delhi)

Product Performance, Competitive Price and availability of hordes of features are the key associations with the brand, across centers.

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“when I saw in a youtube video that it is a Chinese phone, my reaction was it must be useless …but this phone was marketed at quite a is when I started reading thereviews from all countries …and sawthere are ” Female, Kolkata “Even some parts of Nokia or Samsung phones are ‘made in China’…so

are availablein 10 – 12k …that

” Male, Kolkata

“when my friends said it is a Chinese mobileI was disheartened, then I enquired with the shopkeeper and also checked onlineto find good reviews which assured me” Male, Shillong “After I have started using it, I do not see anything Chinese about it …in Chinese phones there is a problem of virus, battery back up and it hangs frequently and I have not faced any of these problems in Gionee ” Male, Jaipur 

“I agree that it is a Chinese company butthey are following the international guidelines, “ manufactured ….it is the

…this ina way ensures that they are coming upwithup quality products” Male, Delhi

…mostl y all electronic companies like LG, Samsung are Chinese or Japanese …wh en we b uy t hes e we ar e j us t c ar rie d b y t he br an d n ame an d no t w her e it i s ” Female, Delhi

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“I do agree that it is Chinese brand but they are a good brand..... Male, Jaipur


….while they are into lot of media activities ….this definitely attracts and builds in trust among people”

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It does not have class like HTC etc.” Males, Kolkata “Name sounds Chinese, these kind of phones aren’t good” Males, Coimbatore & Nagpur “By hearing the name , we get to know that it is a Chinese product ….and you cannot trust Chinese phones ….they do not have a life” Male, Delhi “ …there is some problem with the photo gallery …a nd t he touch is also not too good” Females, Jaipur “ G ionee ad comes on TV …It has brought a very slim phone with good specifications andprice range is also fine” Male, Kolkata “I first heard about this brand in the ad break between Khatron Ke Khiladi but have not heard anybody using the phone so far” Female, Mumbai “It h as a goodcamera,13 MPandis veryslim …not made of plastic” Female, Mumbai “I have seen the advertisement of Elife …they talk about the world’s slimmest phone” Male, Delhi “It is a new brand that has been launched in India and they sponsored Khatron Ke Khiladi ….they were giving the phones to the contestants” Male, Delhi


“It is an unknown brand …not popular …people are not aware of it …from the name we feel it will not be durable” Males, Kolkata “It is a new company, so we cannot be too confident” Females, Baroda “ …not ev en seen any service centres” Females, Mumbai

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Good Quality camera Lower end models not at par with higher end ones

Good Looks and Style Loads of features; Value for money brand Not seen many people using the brand

Low on Awareness and visibility

Lack of service stations Chinese

(in Jaipur) Delivers what it promises

Most consumers are aware that the brand has originated from China. Users, however, have overcome the ‘Chinese stigma’ basis price points, online reviews, IMEI number et al. Users as well rejecters appreciate the competitive rates of Gionee mobiles which are loaded with features Amongst Aware Non Considerers, quality of awareness itself is relatively poorer – product features at competitive prices never mentioned Page 19 Understanding Brand Health and Motivators Barriers for Gionee


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STEP 1

(the range varied depending on one’s spending capacity. Typically, a budget of INR 15,000 -20,000/-. Going up to INR 3035,000/- in a few cases). For most female consumers & first time purchasers,

STEP 2 STEP 3

: most consumers had a few brands in the consideration set basis own experience/word of mouth/ market visibility

Information was searched on the

STEP 4

(company website/Online shopping portals/ads/user reviews) on the shortlisted brands

Most compared models/aesthetics/features etc. in the given price band. who owned similar models/ who are considered the experts, with experience. Done by SELF.

STEP 5 Understanding Brand Health and Motivators Barriers for Gionee

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“I bought Blackberry 8520…I used the keypad a lot and got tired of the keypad and hence wanted to change my phone” Male, Coimbatore

“Apple had a touchscreen, so I wanted to see how it will be…I went to Apple Store, they had lots of formalities…for any application needed to download from Apple store…too much work for me” Male, Coimbatore

“I read the specifications twice and compared it with others…it looked nice too…then I , they were selling genuine products and I was satisfied ” Male, Coimbatore

intrigued him to know more about Gionee. Used Blackberry for sometime, post which a feeling of boredom set in, hence wanted to change


After using Apple, he did not find it to be user friendly. It was complicated, hence, struggled with it and thought of a replacement.

Comparison with other brands was considered satisfactory. Appreciated the camera features

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“I

“All my friends were using Samsung so thought of buying it…” Male, Shillong

Samsung Galaxy Ace

But after using the phone for a year almost there were software problems and the phone used to hang a lot while using internet


“it was new in the market with latest Android…the screen size was also big” Male, Shillong

Sony Xperia Miro

Boredom after using it for sometime there was a need felt to change the phone. Boredom had set it by using the same phone

…then I went to the shop and saw all colour options etc. I checked the internet and saw the ad on Slimmest phone ” Male, Shillong

Moved to Gionee S5.5

were responsible for creating awareness and were the influencers in purchase of Gionee The also played a key role, as the brands in the consideration set were Samsung Note 2, HTC Desire and Samsung S4 mini. Out of all the brands Gionee offered all features (provided by brands in the consideration set) at a competitive rate

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“Price of Gionee is satisfactory…for example Samsung Note 2 is 40k and Gionee S5.5 is 27k…comparing both, Gionee has more RAM, memory card is 16GB while Samsung is 8…clarity is same…Note 2 is heavy but Gionee is light, big and world’s slimmest phone” Male, Shillong

Loaded with features and at an

“It was in my budget and it was having all the features that I needed in my range…rest brands like Samsung etc. was not coming in my range…In Gionee I also got a warranty of 2 years…” Male, Nagpur Understanding Brand Health and Motivators Barriers for Gionee

“Friends also recommend that you get same features in Gionee for less price than Sony” Male, Shillong

“I felt Gionee mobiles to be best compared to any other brand…first of all price…for example if I take G3, in Rs 10,000/- the kind of features (Quad-core processor, sound quality, touch quality) they offer is not offered by any other company” Male, Baroda

“It is a great phone at an attractive price” Female, Mumbai

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coupled with

, key reasons for opting for

Gionee, “main thing is …because nowadays there is lot of publicity of Gionee and second thing is when I go out ” Male, Jaipur “I have read the reviews of Gionee in different sites and they were good…then I decided to buy it” Female, Kolkata

“my husband has also bought Gionee and it is a very good phone…I have recommended Gionee to my Clients as well” Female, Jaipur

like – Receiving calls by shaking, Typing C and reaching the Camera app/ Calculator even when phone is switch off acted in Gionee’s favour and attracted consumers,

“I have told you that I am hatke so I bought a phone which is hatke and was willing to take that risk…and I felt they are giving something extra than HTC or Nokia or Xperia ” Male, Kolkata Understanding Brand Health and Motivators Barriers for Gionee

“If we are getting a call we just shake the phone and the call gets answered…that is cool” Female, Delhi

“If I just type C, applications with C initials will pop up…a similar feature is not available even in a Samsung phone of 40K” Female, Delhi

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Big Screen Size – looks are like iPhone (Mumbai and Baroda)

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Design – stylish

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Light weight

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Camera (E7 mini)

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Battery Back up

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“it has good camera clarity” (Male, Mumbai)

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“the battery life is really good …lasts for 2 days” (Male, Jaipur)

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“it has good battery back up, will stay for one complete day” (Male, Shillong)

Innovative technology - Songs can be changed by just shaking the phone 

“when we want to change the songs being played in the mobile,we just shake it” Male, Nagpur

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Has latest features, attractive look and reasonably priced 

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High on popularity (Jaipur) 

“They have been advertising and promoting their brand ….I have seen many people using Gionee ” (male, Jaipur)


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“Everything in Gionee is attractive, including the price” (Male, Coimbatore)

Attractive price range, being a new a player 

“They have recently launched smart phones and the price range is also quite low ….that is why people are purchasing it” (Male, Coimbatore)

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“I was quite impressed by the

“All the features in Gionne are really good; t“

like Sony and Samsung and the price is comparatively less” , (Sony User) female, Coimbatore

(Nokia User), male, Jaipur

“Nowadays are in trend ….Gionee mobiles are quite attractive….the screen size is also quite big” (Samsung User), Female, Baroda


“They have given a different look to t heir handsets…it looks very ” Across centers and consumers

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“ Gionee has been ….I checked on the Internet …..the price was not very high and they had used latest features ” (Sony User) Male, Delhi

“I have seen ” (Samsung User) Female, Nagpur

“My friend had purchased E7 and when he showed it to us we started making fun but actually I did like the model…he was quite happy with the performance…so I though of atleast checking it out at the shop” (Nokia User) Male, Jaipur

Consumers across centers and userships were hooked by the Even the consider Gionee Understanding Brand Health and Motivators Barriers for Gionee

and the among consumers especially

it was

that induced them to

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LIME 6 Case Study Gionee India New

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