Smartphones, tablets fuel gadget sales hike

Bulk of sales in Junrex are now smartphones and tablets. Owner says consumers have embraced mobile applications that could only be accessed by phones connected to the Web

HOMEGROWN retailer Junrex Cellphone and Accessories reported a 20 percent growth in sales in the first quarter this year, driven by huge sales in smartphones and tablets.

Junrex owner Jun Yap expects growth will continue to expand this year, in anticipation of more sophisticated models of mobile devices that will be released in the market.

He said they are upbeat in the coming months because the market has revived. Yap said they thought the market would remain stagnant after it reached its saturation point three years ago but with the entry of new technology like social networking platforms and other mobile applications, the mobile industry has picked up.

“We welcome a whole new market with the entry of this new technology,” said Yap, who is also the president of Philippine Retailers Association-Cebu Chapter.

In September last year, GfK Asia reported that in the last 12 month, sales of over 118 million units across the seven key markets in the Southeast Asian region, including the Philippines, brought the total worth of the mobile phone sector in the region to almost $137 million. Smartphones accounted for the larger proportion of the total mobile phone market.

Yap said mobile manufacturers’ release of affordable smartphones and tablets has made it easier for consumers to acquire or shift into these gadgets. The country’s growing middle class and the increased purchasing power of consumers have also contributed to the expansion of the mobile device market.

Although Filipino consumers still buy fea- ture phones, bulk of the sales recorded at Junrex are now purchases of smartphones and tablets as consumers these days have embraced mobile applications that could only be accessed by phones connected to the web, sad Yap. “People now are anticipating new models. This has become part of their wish lists,” he said.

Junrex manages concepts stores of mobile brands like Nokia, Samsung and LG.

Proving its confidence on the Philippine market, Yap said South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. is set to open its first 300-square meter destination shop in Cebu this October at the new wing of Ayala Center Cebu.

The company is eyeing four destinations shops in the country, of which three will be located in Metro Manila.

Yap said the opening of the destination shop is meant to maintain Samsung’s dominance in the Philippine mobile device market.