Huawei entered into a distribution partnership with Micromax to boost offline sales and retail network in India. This is the first time two smartphone giants will be joining hands for a symbiotic relationship.
“We have partnered with Micromax to launch our smartphones at multibrand outlets in India,” Rishi Kishor Gupta, Vice-President, Huawei Brand, Consumer Business Group, Huawei India.
“In Micromax brand stores, Micromax phones will be available. But as far as the distribution and retail network that we have, Huawei will be capitalizing on that,” said Deepti Mehra, Head, Marketing, Micromax Informatics.
“There will be no co-branding. Micromax will continue separately when it comes to launching of own phones. There is no conflict of interest because Micromax addresses to the mass segment and Huawei the premium category,” Mehta added.
The Chinese smartphone maker entered the India market in 2018. The company’s online brand Honor phones are not part of this deal, according to the statement. Having started its business online in India, it launched offline products exclusively with Chroma. Thereafter, it partnered with Poorvika Mobiles to expand presence in the southern states.
The strategic partnership will see Huawei use Micromax’s strong foothold in the consumer electronics market to further their retail presence in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Kochi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Dehradun, Kolkata and Jaipur.
“With an aim to be present where our consumers are, we plan to focus on a robust offline distribution network catering to the needs of consumers in urban as well as rural regions and to make them experience the innovative technology that has won the hearts of customers’ world over,” said Tornado Pan, Country Head (Huawei Brand), Consumer Business Group, Huawei India.
Huawei sold 200 million smartphones in 2018. It also shipped 100 million devices by the end of this May. The company’s market share in the Indian smartphone market was at 4 per cent in Q1 2019, according to Counterpoint Research.