A case study on Micromax’s Mobile Marketing Strategies – How did it Become Big in Indian Market

I had been thinking about this topic from last one year but could not able to put my thoughts till this evening. Actually I wrote a case study on Samsung Mobile Marketing Strategy in India titled “The High-Quality Low-Price Business Strategy of Samsung Mobile in Penetrating Competitive Market of India” 3 years back. At that time Samsung was hit in Indian market and it had phones in all price range for all customers. They brought low cost mobile with BADA platform and high range mobile with Android platform. The near competitor was Nokia which didn’t launch their mobiles in Android market. So it was obvious that Nokia will lose market share in near future but to whom? It was a questions. I wanted to study on the same but could not due to some reason. There were many players who could take Nokia’s position like Sony Erricson, Micromax, Lava, HTC, Karbonn and many more. The case study could be more interesting if I had done it 3 years back. But now we have the winner. Last year Micromax became the top seller in India leaving Samsung and Nokia behind. So let’s read about Micromax marketing strategies.
You can read about Micromax and its history on Google. They started their business in 2000 and earlier they were just marketing Chinese mobile phones. Though they are still importing mobiles from Chinese, everything is Chinese from Hardware to Software, but since they are registered in India, its an Indian company. Great logic. In our MBA course we studies about advantages of home ground or Home market advantages. Micromax gives a feeling of using Indian mobile and they spread this message very quickly. I can still remember their probably first TV ad with Twinkle Khanna with their Blink phone. The ad was not that much hit and I don’t think this gave a push to Micromax. What the USP of Micromax was their low cost mobile phones. They started to target middle class people who wants a phone just to talk with long battery backup (scarcity of power in Indian villages). They brought many models below 5K and penetrate the Indian market to a greater extent. My cast study on Samsung was completely wrong if I take case of Micromax. When they captured some market share they started rolling Android phones and tablets but keeping budget in mind. Still they have not launched any mobile above 20K price range. Here are the marketing strategies which I think Micromax followed.

1. Sponsoring Indian Cricket Matches

In our childhood there was only one major sponsor who used to sponsor every cricket match held in India, our own “Hero Honda – Desh ki Dharkan – Dhak Dhak”. But Micromax knew that Indian people love cricket more than any other game and serial. So they took the title from Hero Honda and did sponsor a lot of series. With this strategy they reached to millions of customers. In 2014-15 they paid 20m INR to BCCI per match. So they know where and why they are putting that much amount.

2. Reach to Indian market

Soon after launching their own mobile handsets in the market they started opening outlets all across Indian cities. They opened outlets and service centers more aggressively than any other mobile company even beating Nokia. Through this they become a household name in all cities and quickly made its own identity.

3. Right product strategy

Micromax knows what Indian wants. Sasta and Tikau. Who understands this line more than Indian and this is what Micromax does. Right product at right time at right price. Of course their product’s quality is lesser than that of Nokia and Samsung but the product lives of all companies are same. Who keeps a mobile handset more than one or two years. Every quarter they bring a new handset, only competitor in terms of launching handset is Samsung. They have product for all categories and for all type. Now they have started selling product in Russia as well.

4. Dosti with Android

I think this is the major factor which helped Micromax to be big and Nokia to lose. Micromax didn’t invest lot of money in R&D just like Samsung and Nokia. They were fully dependent of Open source Android. They do customization and launch it in the market. As Android has almost 60% of entire smartphone market share their mobile handset was a obvious choice for middle class family.

5. Introduction of Celebrity

Really? Do you think Huge Jackman and Twinkel Khanna helped Micromax to increase their sales. Tell me your thoughts first. I think absolutely not. During our thesis one of my batch-mates was working on Celebrity and its impact of brand image. I don’t think he/she took example of Micromax but Micromax hardly took help of any celebrity. They brought Huge Jackman but it was a flop concept. He came on TV ads for just few months and vanished. So I don’t think Micromax is thinking about another celebrity in current scenario. If you can remember AB sir came in Zen Mobile ad, Farhan Akhatar is brand ambassador of Intex mobile and Hritik Roshan is of OPPO. Did these brand succeed in the market? Hardly no. So I don’t think introduction of celebrity was a major factor in making Micromax big and gaining market share.

What next?

I think Micromax should open manufacturing plants in India as well. They should support Modi’s cause “Make in India”. In their phones if systems hangs and reboots, it starts showing Chinese which I think an embarrassment for an Indian company. They should take care of their display, processor, camera and audio quality because now these are the factors which make difference. Apart from that rather than launching 7-8 handsets in a year they can concentrate on few handsets. Apple launches only 2 handsets in a year and still a big hit. Quality matters boss. That’s it.

So dear reader this was my study. What else do you think about Micromax marketing strategy? Please comment below your thoughts. I would love to share your views with my reader and will add to my case study if find I it interesting. Kindly also read Will TATA ZEST Marketing Strategy help to Regain TATA Motors Position in Indian Automobile Industry?

References

1. Micromax beats Samsung, becomes India’s No. 1 mobile vendor: Report
2. Micromax Mobile
3. Micromax bags series title rights for 2014-15
4. How Micromax made it big in India
5. Twinkle Khanna to endorse Micromax Mobiles