The Innjoo brand has found a
home among millions of Nigeria. It has been a phenomenal growth for a brand
that is less than three years in Nigeria’s fiery mobile market. In this chat, Country
Manager for Innjoo, Rakesh Rocque, speaks on how the brand is growing market
acceptance and why premium quality phones need not cost an acre on the moon.
What is the unique selling proposition of
Innjoo as a brand compared to other brands?
Innjoo has been in this
country since last two years. We started selling our first equipment from 2014.
So now it’s the 3rd year and
we are thankful to Nigerians for giving us a warm welcome and making our brand
established. Innjoo is about value for money. We are a brand with a clear
vision. We have thought about why a product should come to the end user at a
higher cost. Our product, like Max 3 for example, which has the privilege of
being the largest selling product at 6 inch goes for N50,000 (fifty thousand
Naira) as an end user price. Other models with same specifications and
even lesser speed are actually higher in price. So why make the price that
high, is it the quality, the features or the design? We have put design at a
very premium level so that the consumers only pay for the product and not the
cost of marketing or anything else which is why the price is very low. We have
used the same quality products to get the goods to the end user and that’s what
kept us in Nigeria.
Do Innjoo phones comply with the type-approval
of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)?
We don’t sell anything without NCC’s approval. All our products
have NCC’s approval. We try as much as possible to ensure that our phones
meet the country’s specifications. Apart from bringing global best practice to
the fore, we understand that specifications vary from country to country and
this we put into cognizance.
“We are a brand with clear
vision. We have thought about why a product should come to the end user at a
higher cost.”
It’s a winning marketing strategy that your
devices are not so expensive, but is quality not compromised?
If you see our products like our batteries; they are ranging from
3600 to 4000 mAh. So they all have IPS display, which is also used in
other premium brands. Even the cameras like Innjoo 3 with a 21-pixel camera.
Innjoo is the only OEM that has brought 4GB and 6GB ram to the market, there’s
no other brand that has brought a 6GB RAM phone to the market today. Yes,
our devices are affordable, but that hasn’t affected the quality of our
products. That is why most of our customers are previous Innjoo phone users;
they always come back.
There are lots of complaints that some OEMs
have poor after sales service. What’s your after sales service like?
Well, in our company, we have rules and policies that regulate
our after sales and they are in line with what is applicable in other climes.
We have such guidelines that pertain to our after sales service and support.
One of which is this: if a phone is brought in within seven (7) days,
which has a manufacturer’s defect may be, physical or internal, we swap it
immediately on the spot. Also, any phone which is up to 30 days depending
whatever is wrong with it, we either swap or repair as the case may be. Any
phone which is within the one (1) year manufacturer’s warranty we either
upgrade or swap.
“We have put
design at a very premium level, so that the consumers only pay for the product
and not the cost of marketing or anything else which is why the price is very
low.”
How do you solve the issue of
access rate, so customers can get genuine accessories for their phones?
Well, everybody knows that genuine accessories and genuine
chargers will enhance your device life. But that’s has been done by every brand
basically. How many people know if they use the battery from the road-side, it
can damage their product life and if they use a better brand, it will enhance
the product’s life? So how many people know this, that if they are using an X
phone they have to use an X charger and so on. Secondly, our phones don’t come
with a second battery so it’s not customer changeable. They have to come to our
service center to change the battery and it’s not available anywhere else, this
is actually to counter fakes and promote genuine products. We have five (5)
service centers across the country, plus we do not charge if a product is
within the warranty year.
Can you compare the Nigerian market with
another country where you have your presence?
You cannot compare Nigeria with another country. Nigeria is very
big in terms of population and every other country is not up to 50 percent of
Nigeria’s sales, so you cannot compare. In Africa, I can say that Nigeria as a
country can be called IT destination. A lot of things are going on and another
thing that is good in the Nigerian market is the way the citizens embrace
technology. Nigerian is a market that is majorly youth and young at heart.
What’s your flagship phone what is the level
of acceptance in the market?
Our flagship model is Innjoo 1 which is still enjoying a wide
range of acceptance in the market till now. But people have also accepted
our Max series and our Allo series which has been giving us more than 70 % of
the market share.
“You cannot compare Nigeria
with another country. Nigeria is very big in terms of population and every
other country is not up to 50 percent of Nigeria’s sales, so you cannot
compare. In Africa, I can say that Nigeria as a country can be called IT
destination.”
You just launched a laptop into the market,
what has the acceptance been?
It has been booming from day in and day out. It’s like never
before. Our laptop is so user-friendly that it can be charged by a car or power
bank, etc. With our new laptop, you don’t need the bulky charger and cables.
Moreover, the price is under (N100, 000) hundred thousand naira when we
launched. But as of now, it’s below (N75, 000) seventy-five thousand naira.
This laptop has given our Nigerian customers the ability to purchase a laptop
with much features, sleek design, light weight, flexible charging option and
advanced RAM – all below N100, 000.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
please kindly drop your comments,your views are very important to us.....thanks