Festive season: Lenovo to launch new 4G smartphones for offline retail channel

Chinese handset vendor Lenovo is hopeful of gaining 2 percent point market share in the third quarter, further improving its presence in the high growth handset market of the country. To further tap the newer customer base, the handset maker will launch new smartphones just for the offline retail channel during this festive season.

"We're now No 5 brand in India and are looking at improving that position as we await the third quarter results. We're confident of gaining 2% share points in the third quarter," Sudhin Mathur, director, smartphones, at Lenovo India, told ET.

Lenovo's major focus is going towards the sub Rs 10,000 smartphone category, which makes around 80-85% of the market. Two of the three phones planned for the festive season will be in this price band.

The company will launch two new 4G smartphonesthe A6000 Shot, an upgrade of A6000 Plus, with higher improved camera, at Rs 9,999, and K3Note Music, an upgrade of K3 Note at Rs 12,999. It will also launch A1000, a 3G smartphone, at Rs 4,999, targeting first time users.

Mathur said that all these phones will be launched in general trade around the Diwali festival.

Lenovo already claims to be the number one brand in the country's 4G smartphone segment, having sold more than 3 million 4G devices so far.

The company will begin retail and outdoor marketing campaigns in 7 states, including Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, for which it will spend "few million dollars" in marketing, Mathur added.

In smaller states, the company will introduce local offers to drive sales. Lenovo is already carrying out a service center expansion, and is opening exclusive service centres for Lenovo and Motorola brands. By this Diwali, the company will have 50 stores across 40 cities, and by the middle of next year, it will take this count to 100 exclusive sores in India. Mathur said that these centers will take care of 70-80% of call load.

Lenovo will also loan temporary handsets to customers who don't want to wait for the repaired device. The company also expanded its multi-brand service network and now it has 350 service centres.

Lenovo has begun local manufacturing of smartphones at Sriperumbudur near Chennai through global contract manufacturing partner Flextronics. The company has started making two 4G smartphones, the Moto E and the Lenovo K3 Note, at the plant. Mathur said that manufacturing volumes are reaching significant levels now, and the first India made Lenovo phone - K3 Note - will be hitting retail shelves by Diwali.