Local firm Infogostar Company has introduced the budget cellphone BLU into the ever-expanding local market. The company launched an online sales service this week.
Operating under the address name BoldMobile.ir, the website tries to increase awareness about the brand and facilitates sales and after-sales services.
Infogostar chief Hossein Gharavi says, “BLU are low-cost phones for everyday use," reported CITNA.
BLU Products (which stands for Bold Like Us) is an American consumer electronics company headquartered in Florida. The handsets under the brand are manufactured in China and are popular in Latin America.
The company currently offers 25 BLU models in Iran and the number will reach 35 next month. The BLU phones range in price from 500,000 rials ($10) to 20 million rials ($430).
In order to embark on an effective market strategy, Infogostar conducted an extensive research of the local market. The results of the research show an estimated 7.2 million phones are sold in Iran every year with the average price of 14 million rials ($304).
The study categorized handsets into four price groups: budget, mid-price, high-price and flagships.
According to the company, budget handsets which cost less than 5 million rials ($108) have 17% of the overall (sales) market but in value terms are in the neighborhood of barely 2%.
Mid-price phones costing between 5 million rials ($108) and 10 million rials ($217) make up 24% of the sales and make 10% in total revenues generated.
A Breakdown
Handsets priced between 10 million rials ($217) and 15 million rials ($326) were the most popular accounting for 26% share of the market and 19% of total earnings.
Mobile phones costing between 15 million rials ($326) and 25 million rials ($543) had 8% share of the market in terms of number and 12% in terms of value.
The more expensive ones in the range of 30 million rials ($652) had 15% of the market but in terms of earnings a whopping 44%.
Looking at the bigger picture, it can be said that 70% of the market share belongs to phones costing 15 million rials ($326) and less.
Gharavi says their estimations show that the market will witness a growth in demand for low-cost phones (less than 5 million rials) in the coming years. "It can be predicted that mid-price phones will lose market share while low-priced and high-priced gadgets will dominate the market,” he said without elaboration.
In the market for phones priced below 5 million rials ($108) which have a monthly turnover of 170 billion rials ($3.7 million), Nokia is the dominant brand. Samsung, Huawei and Tecno follow with 55% of the market.
According to Gharavi, 25% of the market belongs to low quality brands that do not offer after-sales services. "We hope to capture 6% share of the market in the next fiscal [which starts in March] and sell 40,000 phones a month."
Infogostar offers after-sales services in Tehran and other major cities.
