JOIN USMotorola India, which gets two-third of sales from ecommerce platform, and the rest from retail, intends to get equal split from both these platforms. The handset maker is aggressively focusing on expanding its retail presence by launching offline stores.
The company on Wednesday announced that it would open 100 'Moto Hubs' in Karnataka, and Bengaluru alone will house half of them.
"We have been a dominant player online, at the same time, we also have offline presence. But now we want to strengthen our retail presence, thus providing meaningful experiences to our customers," Sudhin Mathur, Managing Director of Motorola Mobility India told DH.
Karnataka is the second biggest smartphone market in India with sales of above 6.5 million smartphones. "The state contributes 8-9% of the total smartphones sold in India. Bengaluru contributes 50% of the total smartphones sold in Karnataka," Mathur said.
According to the IDC Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report, the Indian smartphone market grew 14% in 2017 and it is the fastest growing market among the top 20 smartphone markets globally.
"Over 124 million units were sold last year in the country and this year it might touch 140 million units. Both online and offline channels will grow well and the next phase of growth will be from offline," Mathur said, adding there has been 24-25% growth rate in the above Rs 20,000 smartphone category.
"Customers are now looking to upgrade their phones and this will continue. They are also looking for better experience and intelligent features in the phone," he said, adding the company wants to open 1,000 Moto Hubs by the end of this year.
The Lenovo-owned company earlier announced the opening of 50 new Moto Hubs in New Delhi, 25 in Kolkata, and 50 in Mumbai. It has also collaborated with Poorvika Mobiles across 43 cities in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karnataka and with Big C and Lot Mobile stores across 55 cities in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to provide retail access to consumers.
Moto Hub stores house the entire portfolio of Motorola devices, including moto e4, moto e4 plus, moto c and moto c plus, among others.