Monday, March 21, 2011

VIKAS JAIN, FOUNDER MEMBER AND BUSINESS DIRECTOR, MICROMAX - HOW HE OVERTHREW THE DOMINANCE OF BIGGIES LIKE NOKIA, LG... AND MORE

Will your product portfolio remain similar for these markets as well?
To begin with, it would remain same, but later on we would like to localize it as and when we see the need.

Don’t you think you are entering the international markets too soon?
I don’t think it’s early. I think there’s enough market available and the company has enough resources to do more than one thing at the time. What’s more important is to be at the right place at the right time and that’s what we are doing.

How will your launch portfolio play out?
12 handsets at the time of Bangladesh launch, 10 for UAE and 7 for Sri Lanka. These are devices from our current portfolio and as we spend more time in these markets, we will look at scaling them in accordance with the needs and demands of each market.

What are your upcoming devices for the Indian market?
Hopefully, 3G services will be rolled out during Diwali and we would like to time our 3G portfolio along with that. I think with time, 3G would be a big part of the portfolio. We would see many more devices with bigger screens, and more smartphones. We don’t want to sell a technology, but a solution, which our customers can experience and have its worth. We would also be looking at Android devices around that time only.

Can we look forward to push mail devices as well?
If things go well, we’ll have push mail on more than one device by the next month.

How do you plan to benefit from your international exposure?
This gives us higher exposure into different markets, and brings in opportunities. For example, Micromax had its smartphones ready, but could not launch it in India as there were no 3G services available. But in a small country like Sri Lanka, 3G has been available for the last one year. So this territory can now help us to take our portfolio to a next level.

What about your service centre strength?
In India, we have 520 service centres and our target is to have 1000 by the end of this calendar year as we are looking to double up our sales base from one million units to two million in this financial year. In international markets also, we are trying to give a similar experience to our customers. So, while we have 22 collection points and 6 services centres in Bangladesh, the count is 54 and 3 in Sri Lanka and 13 and 1 in Nepal respectively.

Do you follow the same branding strategy in international markets as well?
Our phones are different from any other phone in the market. We have always looked at bringing utilitarian things in the market with the help of our devices and I think customers are smart enough to understand the same. So far, all our success has come from this strategy only.

What’s next on your agenda for the Indian market?
We want to have a top of mind recall of 10%. We already have that much market share, but we would want to see the same percentage saying Micromax should be their first preference while buying a cell phone.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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