Harsh Vardhan – Marketing Head, Jivi Mobiles

When it comes to mobile phones in India the Chinese manufacturers rule the market, but this scenario is changing a little as “Make in India” initiative is giving a push to the Indian mobile manufacturers, and one of the top players in handset industry is Jivi. Jivi Mobiles was commenced in 2011 and has its own manufacturing unit in India. Harsh Vardhan, Marketing Head, Jivi Mobiles, in conversation with Pahi Mehra, talks about the stiff competition in the Indian market and how Jivi Mobiles is sustaining and embracing the up gradation to 5G.

Today, there is a growing demand of mobile manufacturing in India, plus there is stiff competition in the market. So, how are you standing out in this competition? India being a huge market is a level playing field for all the mobile manufacturers in the country. Since our inception, we have always leveraged on innovation and relationship with all stake holders. Continuous research on need of the consumer has always

given us an edge in the competition. Our innovative products which are feature loaded and come at competitive pricing keep us ahead of our competitors. Credit goes to our R&D team also which continuously thrives on to understand the need of the Indian consumers and develop the products as per their needs.

In a short period we have created a niche for ourselves as we started offering smart feature phones at pocketbook pricing but now we have also forayed into the smartphone segment which caters the users of tier 3 and 4 cities.

How was the initial time when you started the company? We have launched this brand in 2011, during this time more than 290 brands were operating in the market. Many renowned white goods players & distribution companies were entered into this business, made it very cluttered but slowly most of the

brands were moved out of competition. Now it’s a better level playing field as compared to 2011.

What are the challenges you faced in terms of sustaining in the Indian market and growing the business? Competition is always severe in handset industry, there were no entry barrier in importing and launching a white label brand, and hence many players with shorter vision has entered and wiped off and disturbed the market.

Where do you majorly manufacture your devices and at what scale have you grown? We have one manufacturing unit in Delhi which has manufacturing capacity of seven lakh units and soon we are coming up with another manufacturing unit in Lonavala. Since, our inception we have seen a robust growth. In the year 2018-19 we have seen 10% growth and we expect to double it in next fiscal with the launch of new series of smartphones.

What is the history behind founding Jivi Mobiles? We are in import and distribution of mobile phones since 2004, we have import brands like Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericson and bird mobile. Also, we had fair experience of after sales service as we used to provide after sales service for brand like Nokia.

Apart from mobile, we were souring products like digital cameras, home appliances from China, we had a wellestablished sourcing team in china with an experience of 7 years in 2011 (from 2004). With all these competencies, we have decided to launch a Brand for the masses of India, thus launched JIVI in North and East India and gradually expanded our distribution to West & South as well. Today, JIVI has PAN India presence with more than 50,000 retailers.

What are your major achievements according to you till now? We have always looked at our each step since inception as an achievement. We started as feature phone manufacturer, entered into the smart feature phone segment and gradually we went on to manufacture smartphones also. Now, we are not only present in the country but also forayed into the international market. So, whole of our journey has been an achievement.

Have you faced any critical downfall in the business? Every industry witnesses a slump at some point or other. Similarly, the mobile manufacturing industry is also reeling since last year due to which many players either moved out or closed their operations, but we have significantly grown during the difficult time too. We owe our success to our aggressive pricing, continuous innovation in technology, focus on packaging and proper understanding of the market has helped us in outplaying the competition from the other brands. We have strengthened our market positioning despite the slowdown in the market.

Apart from this, we are offering ‘Rich in Features, Value for Money’ products at such an aggressive price that now the competitors are actually finding it difficult to compete with us.

How does your supply chain works? We have a strong supply chain network and we are continuously growing our dealer and distributor network across the country. We already have 20 branch offices, more than 38,000 dealers and more than 600 distributors across the country. In few states, we are the highest selling feature phone brand. Apart from this we are also selling our products through online channels also.

Apart from strong supply chain network, our word-of-mouth marketing has also helped in penetrating deep in Tier 3 & 4 cities.

What difference do you feel is there with Indian consumers and global consumers? There is hardly any difference in buying patten or perception among Indian consumers and global consumers. Every consumer looks for the products which offer value for money. Now-a-days, the consumers don’t hesitate in spending money on products which come with value preposition coupled with smart features.

We have been constantly thriving on offering the value for money preposition to our consumers. Our understanding about the needs of the consumers and developing products as per their requirements has helped us in penetrating in the global market as well. Apart from this, our products also cater to all as they are rich in feature and pocket friendly.

You were majorly into the feature phone segment and recently entered the smartphone segment, any specific reason? Since our inception we have been continuously establishing ourselves as a strong brand name in the feature phone segment and gradually evolved a new segment for us which is ‘Smart feature phone’. In some of the regions we are the best sellers in this segment. Our robust marketing initiatives and continuous research and development segment have established a strong communication among themselves to come out with the products which offer value for money.

This helped us in understanding that as we evolved, the consumer segment which uses smart feature phones will also evolve and go on to experience the smart phones which would be their first smart phone. So, this need of the customers encouraged us to expand our product portfolio.

What are your target audience? Predominantly, we are targeting masses. This alcove comprises of those users who are looking for a ‘Smart feature phones’. As of now, there is hardly anyone in the market who is addressing the need of such consumers but at JIVI Mobiles we are always ready with a product for such segment. Our smart features like power bank feature, mobile tracker feature etc. make our products in-demand. The products which we offer are not only easy to use for the first time users but the ‘smart feature phones’ also enable the swift transition for a mobile handset user from feature phones to smartphones.

Do you have any future projects or devices you are working on? Currently, we are working on various products both in the smart phone as well as feature phone categories. We are continuously developing products and as part of our marketing initiatives we are regularly taking feedback from the customers. The consumer feedback helps us in innovating our products on regular basis.

Almost all phone manufacturing companies are jumping into 5G. Does Jivi have any plans about that? I personally think that there is still some time for 5G to be launched in India. We are ready to embrace the technical upgradation and are all geared up for it. As and when the market will witness the update we will launch our products which would be 5G ready. We are closely following the market economics with respect to the integration of 5G and the market readiness. ■

pahi@mymobile.co.in