The Indian Mobile industry has undergone a very huge yet unexpected transition. Digitization and the introduction of IoT integrated devices have made people become tech-savvy.
Additionally, the ‘Make in India’ initiative empowered various emerging brands to serve the tailor-made needs of the customers by solely manufacturing the products in India, and thus eventually reducing the price bands. However, the emergence of several IT brands, international and domestic, has caused the market to become very challenging. Deepak Kabu, CEO, Ziox Mobile has recently had a discussion with ITNewsBuzz. Excerpts of the interview….
ITNewsBuzz: How would you define Ziox Mobiles in three aspects? Also, share its vision.
Deepak Kabu: Quality, Innovation, and Affordable solutions, are the three key aspects that define Ziox Mobiles. Today Ziox Mobiles ranks amongst the top 5 brands in India. As a brand, we are always steadfast on not just enabling the consumers to get quality products, loaded with user-friendly interface and robust technology, but also cater the needs of the Indian consumers. Our state-of-the-art manufacturing and R&D facility focuses on consistent innovation, turning ideas into reality. Technology is after all not about complicating life but simplifying it.
With this, we foresee a promising future to drive the brand and gain a stronger footing in the market. Our vision is to empower users with Technology, aiding the Digital Transformation in India.
ITNewsBuzz: India being a price-sensitive market and more than half of the population of the country comprising of ‘masses’, what is your strategy to connect to this section of customers? How do you plan to tap the Feature phone market?
Deepak Kabu: Ziox Mobiles is a name, synonymous with best-in-class smartphones and feature phones. Every Ziox Mobile is tailor-made for Indian audience which not just look for quality and technology but also an extremely reasonable price tag. As a brand, we have excelled in both the portfolios, catering the needs of the customers.
Our phones comes with the right combination of trending beauty and hard-core brains, it also brings to the customers, quality assurance. We have come up with 100-days replacement warranty to our users in order to further reiterate our commitment to deliver the most user-centric services. The Mobile industry landscape, today being highly competitive, we mark a difference by following an experience-first strategy; our products offer best-in-class features such as high-quality camera, long-lasting battery life and better features at extremely competitive prices. Ziox Mobiles offer more value for every purchase be it a feature phone or a Smartphone.
Having said that, our next phase of expansion is focussed on exploring the smaller Towns and cities of India, which shall be one of the strongest Markets when it comes to Feature Phones. The Future of Mobile Industry lies in the smaller towns and cities, and which is where we shall be available, at every consumer touch point.
ITNewsBuzz: How do you try to be at the cutting edge amidst hundreds of other home-grown Indian brands?
Deepak Kabu: As a brand, our main focus remains customer satisfaction by offering the industry’s most demanding standards. With more than 500+ service centres of Ziox is now present in tier 2 and tier 3 touch points as well. Pertaining to digitization, we have also minimized not just our manufacturing rates, but our product rates as well. Ziox Mobiles is steadfast in bringing the customers, efficient products integrated with innovative technology. Hence, to the extent that Ziox has touched all the necessary aspects of consumer demands, we, as a brand, have carved out our own niche.
ITNewsBuzz: The next wave of business growth is coming from Tier 2, 3 cities in India. What are your plans to tap these markets?
Deepak Kabu: Since the market is cluttered and highly competitive; to enhance our reach in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, we are focussing on the most crucial points such as price band, quality-assurance and technology. The factors that distinguish these markets, is not just the demand for superior quality but also high-quality-at-cost-effective-prices. Hence, we have paced synchronous with the trends and maintained our quality at its best with right pricing and technology. Another aspect of these markets is their presence; they are majorly present in the developing and under-developed towns and cities. So, we prioritize being officially available in the remote regions of our country to enable the consumers to get the most suitable and tailor-made Mobility solutions.
ITNewsBuzz: What is your strategy around support?
Deepak Kabu: With the total investment of 100 Cr, we rank, retail visibility and connecting to the consumer, as the priority. We do that through, online and offline campaigns such as BTL activities and 360-degree campaign. The key component of our strategy is the THREE As, which is Affordable pricing, Availability and After Sales Services. To extend our reach, we have been steadfast in establishing more distribution units in the regions and also plan to come with our own Experience Zone. When it comes to our strategic associations, we have tied up with several leading e-commerce partners and have extended our reach with 25000+ retail stores.
ITNewsBuzz: How much of your sales come from Channel, Retail and e-commerce media? Which one is flourishing for you at present?
Deepak Kabu: Our majority of sales come from Channel and Retail. However, with the recent trends and digitization, we now sell our products on a number of online shopping portals such as Flipkart, Amazon, Shopclues, etc. This progress has been exponential over the period of time. Currently, we are selling overall 3-4 lakh handsets per month. Though e-sales is not our focussed area, we are looking at strategic partnerships, to be available at the right touch points.
ITNewsBuzz: R&D (Research & Development) plays a very important role in the success of any business. What are your plans for this?
Deepak Kabu: We currently have our fundamental R&D center in Delhi next to our Manufacturing unit. Our R&D segment is focused on strengthening the key aspect of technology at cutting-edge prices to stay relevant in this competitive environment. We have undertaken key design processes and also the hardware and software design for the smartphones. Knowing that, Innovation is the game changer for this industry every Brand is now focussing on devising the ‘me-too’ products. At the crux, Tailor made solutions, suiting to dynamic needs of today’s generation.
ITNewsBuzz: As you must be well aware of Indian consumer psyche by now, what are the most common features that they aspire to have on their phones?
Deepak Kabu: Digitization has played a major role in the wide transition of the market and consumer demands. People have grown a lot more tech savvy today; their demands include enhanced features in every aspect. The common features that consumers aspire to have on their phone are a large screen, a high-quality camera, a sound that boasts pitch perfect amalgam of music and vocal clarity, and trendy looks.
People are very style conscious and fashion oriented. The crux is people would always choose a phone, not just according to their requirements but also the one which suits their personality, with the aspect of looks. The camera is one of the most important things in this digital generation that is in demand. Moreover, a large screen along with several other features like picture quality and sound plays a very effective role in the choice of consumers.
At the end…
Indian Mobile Market has become very dynamic. The brands have been doing exponentially well with extremely nice proposition. There is a wide scope of growth leading to different players in the erupting Indian market.
