Chinese smartphone brand opens concept store in Cebu
The Philippine OPPO Mobile Technology Inc., strengthens its presence in Cebu as it moves to capitalize on the price-conscious, yet sophisticated Cebuano market.
The Chinese smartphone brand opened its fourth concept store in Cebu over the weekend at the Ayala Center Cebu, adding to its over 120 concept stores around the country.
Eason G. De Guzman Jr., public relations manager of the Philippine OPPO Mobile Technology Inc., said while OPPO has been able to take the number two post in just three years since its entry in the country, it has yet to maximize its potential here, as market dynamics and buying culture is different from the rest of the country.
According to De Guzman, while Cebu is a highly sophisticated market, it is at the same time price-conscious and this is where OPPO is going to leverage.
"Cebu is still a huge entry level market," said De Guzman explaining that the market still has to discover the wide array of OPPO smartphone units, which all bannered its self-centric expertise.
OPPO smartphone prices range from as low as P6,990 to P23,000, but Cebu's sales growth is more on the entry level units or in the lower price points.
De Guzman said OPPO will intensify its market awareness campaign in Cebu, as it also looking at opportunities to open more concept stores in Metro Cebu, aside from partnering with cellular phone vendors and retail distributors.
For its Ayala Center Cebu concept store located at the third level of the mall, OPPO is partnering with Cebuano gadget retailer Junrex Cellphones and Accessories.
The selfie generation led by the young technology savvy millennials pushed the growth of the brand in the Philippines, placing OPPO as the second top most preferred smartphone brand in the country.
In an earlier interview with Stephen Cheng, OPPO's brand marketing manager, he said that OPPO, aims to land the number position in the Philippine mobile market in the short term.
The company is banking on the phenominal selfie culture in the Philippines.
Cheng said that OPPO is investing on extra effort in capitalizing its selfie-technology advantage specifically in the Philippines, being the selfie capital in the world.
German-based market research organization GfK reported that OPPO is the second bestselling smartphone brand in the Philippines.