Chinese smartphone maker Oppo has started looking at India as an export hub to begin shipping to the Middle East, North Africa, and other South East Asian countries.
Having already entered the league of the top five smartphone manufacturers in India, the company plans to begin exports within the next two to three years. For this purpose, Oppo has invested ₹145 crore in buying 110 acres of land from the Greater Noida Industrial Developmental Authority (GNIDA). This development was initially reported by ET.
The company further intends to invest ₹2000 crores in setting up a large manufacturing complex comprising of assembly as well as residential units for its 30,000 planned employees. About a year ago, Oppo planned to set up a manufacturing unit that would have a capacity of 10 million units focussed solely on manufacturing and not export.
But now, it is evident that with the rising competition from smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung, Micromax, Lenovo, and OnePlus among others, Oppo has decided to add local manufacturing facilities to begin exports while simultaneously focussing on increasing its presence in the online market.
According to its global VP and India President Sky Li, the Chinese smartphone maker will increase the market by exporting Indian manufactured phones to the Middle East, North Africa, and other South Asian markets. He further continues to add,
We already have one assembly factory in Noida that began production in July 2016. The rest is still under construction and we will share an update at an appropriate time.
Over the last two-quarters or so, Oppo has become a leading Chinese brand that has taken market share away from existing top notch companies in India as well as global competitors such as Samsung to now hold (January-March quarter) the number four spot with 10 percent share — in terms of smartphone sales.
Oppo has managed to achieve this through aggressive marketing strategies, including a high commission to retail and trade channels as well as dominating store displays in several offline markets in the country. With the way the company has projected its plan for the next few years, Oppo is definitely a company that customers should be on the look out for in the growing phone market. The feature-centric strategy being employed by Chinese phone makers is also helping them attract the masses towards their budget offerings.
