Vivo, the Chinese manufacturer that entered the Indian market in December last year has a market share of 2 percent. Now, the title sponsorship for the IPL could give it the highly required marketing push.
Being a new entrant, Vivo has a marketing budget of over 125 crore in the country. It is backed by its parent company that aims to make India its second largest market after China.
As per a senior executive aware of the plans of the company, Vivo replaced PepsiCo gaining the title sponsorship of the T20 tournament. The beverages making company pulled out a couple of years ago before its term got over due to the concerns over the ethical issues and spot fixing scandal involved in the IPL. On Sunday, the BCCI announced that Vivo has been assigned the title sponsorship of IPL, but the financial terms have not been disclosed. As per a BCCI official, this could be around Rs 150 crore for a couple of years.
Vivo is focused in the Rs 10,000 and above priced smartphones. It has premium handsets that are priced above Rs 30,000. It has already garnered attention of the competitors existing in the Indian market. Regarding this, a senior official said that the company is positioning itself as a premium brand that may not declare a price war with the other Chinese brands in the market. This is the reason that Vivo is able to focus more on the offline retail enabling it to build a great customer experience.
This year, Vivo aims to sell around two million smartphones in the country. It wants to increase it three folds in the next year. It is intending to set-up an assembling plant in the country that might operate from this fiscal year. Having a unit in India will help it to localize its models faster as well as enjoy the tax benefit that will help it sell the devices at competitive prices.
