“Channel Eco system is Our Major Strength”: Deepak Kabu, CEO, ZIOX Mobiles

In a one-on-one with PC Quest Deepak Kabu, CEO, ZIOX Mobiles, talks about the brand position in the Indian Market

The brand aims to accomplish online sales of up to 20% of the total sales in this FY 2017-2018 staggered 15% in the current quarter and 20% in the next quarter. Marketing data and analytics all concentrated to online sales that shall bring Ziox the opportunity to expand their reach to the region and beyond.

Deepak Kabu, CEO, ZIOX Mobiles

What are the range of feature phones and smartphones Ziox have in market?
We have a wide range in feature phones as well in smartphones. Our feature phones starts with the range of 900. We have approximately five models in 1.8 inch and about 8 models in 2.4 inch category. We also have 3 models in 2.8 inch. In 2016 we have launched number of phones like 1.8 inch models are entry level phones and have given us good boost. Ziox have very aggressive price range, if one can compare with the other brands. It goes up to 1200 to 1300 in feature phones.
If we talk about smart phones, we have approximately 10 models which start with 3.5 inch category but we are getting maximum traction on 4 inches, 4.5 inches and 5 inches. We are planning to go above 5.5 inches also. At least, 1 lakh pieces are being sold each
month and now we are targeting to move up the sale by 2.5 Lakh by another quarter or by festive season. We have sold 3 hundred million units in our last financial year over all. For another financial year we are targeting 10 million overall.
Smart phones starts from the range of 3,000 to 6,000. In upcoming months we are planning to launch more models ranging from 7,000 to 7,500. But right now, the portfolio comprise of phones cost to 6,000 only. Also we are not going beyond 7,500 because there is huge competition in terms of pricing, until and unless we could reach to that level by doing numbers of ATL and BTL activities.

So what are the ATL and BTL activities for feature and smart phones and also describe the GTM strategies?
As I told, we are selling overall 5 Lakh pieces per month and about 4.5 Lakh is the normal selling happening right now in a month. We are trying to increase our volume in 3,000 to 4,500 model category.
For this we are planning to select the model for picking up maximum benefit for the ATL activities.We are hoping it will give us 100% placement over there because competition is less over there. In India you must be observing that people are moving from
feature phones to smart phones.

What is the rate of online and offline traction?
When it comes to the Online space, we see nothing but opportunity especially in the country’s booming e-commerce market. Streamlining our business goals, we have recently started paying more attention on our online segment. Before that we have good traction from TV shopping platforms like Naaptol. Other brands often sell via offline channel, as they are not able to sell online or on TV space. Ziox is doing just opposite, we are on TV Space and you can find us on all online platforms also and getting good response too. We are maintaining space between online and TV GTM strategies
to avoid any kind of clash.

I am happy to tell you that Ziox mobiles are widely selling everywhere. We are selling a huge number in the commercial capital of India that is Mumbai. Ziox smartphones are gaining approximately 4 Crore business per month there. Initially we were thinking that our brand is for B class and C class consumers while A class will not accept it largely. But as far as our business grown we are very happy to see that class A consumers are also using Ziox mobiles. Right now Ziox is at 4th position in all Indian Mobiles. We have faith that we will be the number 2 in India the way I am getting the response.

What is your channel ecosystem?
Channel ecosystem is currently our major strength, we are approximately having 750 distributors for both smart phones and feature phones. In Gujarat, Guwahati, Kashmir to Kerala everywhere we have tremendous reach. There are certain branches where we are getting more numbers like from Tamil Nadu, Gujarat,
Maharashtra, UP, West Bengal, Rajasthan. These are the places where we are getting maximum responses. We have approximately 700 service centres across India. So we are widely into direct distribution network.