OnePlus radically revamps India strategy, gets more aggressive

The brand’s new flagship, the OnePlus 3 phone. Photo credit: OnePlus.

India was not in the picture when OnePlus hit the European and Chinese markets two years ago. That was because the smartphone was targeted at premium customers, and India was perceived as a market for budget buyers.

“This was until we realized that although OnePlus wasn’t selling in India, it was among the top seven countries buying our phone,” Vikas Agarwal, general manager of OnePlus in India, tells me.

Indians bought the phones, using addresses in Europe and the US, and shipped them home to India. Since then, the smartphone startup founded in China by Pete Lau, has trained its eyes on the Indian market by closely watching buying behaviour, building and engaging with the community of buyers and fans, and fixing market requirements (such as service centers).

OnePlus’s goal is to be the next Apple. They have everything planned: from who their future target customers are – “today’s students are tomorrow’s buyers” – down to what the phone’s “snob” value will be – “smartness,” according to Vikas.

OnePlus wants its customers to be smart phone buyers- the best features at just the right price.

“If someone is seen with a OnePlus phone, you know he is serious about the quality of the phone,” says Vikas.

The company hopes that the growing community of Indian online buyers will take them to where Apple is today: the best in the market, but for Android users.

How? With a renewed focus

To begin with, OnePlus is coming up with its first large format experience center on a 14,000 square foot property on Brigade Road in Bangalore.

A bigger team in Amazon will help increase our visibility through various campaigns.

“We knew that the experience the customers were having at large electronic stores was not great. That’s also where we got our answer: online for sales, offline for the experience,” Vikas says.

Vikas makes it clear, however, that the place will not sell phones. “We believe that the store will be viable only if we do not sell. Instead, the center will let customers experience the phone, interact with OnePlus employees, learn all about OnePlus phones,” he says.

It will, however, offer phone services – which, incidentally, is a challenge the company is working on resolving.

The objective is to connect with its customer base offline, he adds. “We want to engage with our customers and our fans. The center is a large investment and it shows our commitment to the Indian market,” he says.

Plugging gaps in processes

Meeting deadlines