Realme
Realme
Company Analysis
Realme, designed as (realme), is a Chinese manufacturer with headquarters in
Shenzhen. A former vice president of Oppo named Li Bingzhong, also called Sky Li, created it
on May 4, 2018. Realme began as an Oppo sub-brand before becoming a stand-alone
company. With an 831% growth rate, Realme went on to become the 5G smartphone brand
with the quickest growth.
History
As a subsidiary brand of Oppo, Realme was launched in the Indian market. The offline Indian
smartphone market was the focus of BBK's Vivo & Oppo in 2018. In May 2018, Oppo
unveiled the Realme 1 smartphone to compete with their arch-rival Xiaomi. The phone,
which was only available on Amazon, was extremely expensive. While sacrificing on
cameras, it provided a very excellent chipset and a distinctive design. The gadget was
popular among many individuals who favored high-performance smartphones despite
criticism for lacking several contemporary features like fingerprint verification or multiple
camera systems.
Madhav Sheth, the CEO of Realme, did a fantastic job creating the company from the
ground up. Sky-Li and the CEO themselves were partners in creating the company. The
company's product line used to be restricted to solely cell phones, but it has since greatly
expanded. Oppo served as one of the fundamental components of Realme. Their devices
were mostly powered by Oppo's own Android Skin Color OS. Additionally, oppo's sub-brand
was listed on their initial few goods. Realme 1's popularity in India inspired the company to
decide to go independent in 2019.
Realme was surprisingly among the top 5 budget flagship brands in terms of sales in 2021.
Realme's position in the flagship market suggests that, despite its emphasis on producing
affordable smartphones, it can unseat Samsung and One plus, the two companies that are
now dominating the market. Their low-cost flagship models, such as the X50 Pro and X2 Pro
attracted more customers by providing excellent features at a competitive price. The
quickest brand in the world to reach 50 million shipments since launch, Realme grew by
132% QoQ in Q3 2021. The brand's rise in the audio sector has been phenomenal, in
addition to smartphones. Realme TWS product shipments increased by 45 percent quarter
over quarter in India, where they now hold a 12 percent market share and are ranked third
among the top brands in the nation.
Regarding cell phones, it is now the brand that sells the most on Flipkart. Additionally, it
succeeded in providing fierce opposition to Xiaomi, its main rival, throughout the 2021
selling season. Over 190 million smart TVs and 1.25 million smart audio items were sold.
The majority of Realme's 2020 product launches ranked highly in terms of value for money.
Realme's CEO, Madhav Sheth, stated in March 2020 that after solidifying its position in the
Indian internet market, the business is now aiming for a 40% increase in offline sales this
year. The Chinese producer of smartphones has recently begun to pay attention to the
offline industry as well. This could be determined by looking at the brand's recent increase
in marketing spending. Shraddha Kapoor was chosen as the spokesperson for their fitness
and Internet of Things (IoT) products, and Salman Khan was hired as the Brand Ambassador
for their number series. This demonstrates the brand's intention to dominate the offline
sector in the future.
But when it came to client happiness, the brand fell short. This was brought on by the weak
brand strategy, which causes a great deal of customer misunderstanding. Every month, the
business launches at least two phones, the majority of which are low-cost smartphones. In
2020, at least six Realme products were introduced in the sub-Rs 10,000 price range.
Salman Khan was appointed brand ambassador by Realme.
Customers felt taken advantage of as a result. On July 31, 2020, the Realme 6i went on sale
for Rs. 12999. The business released its replacement after two months at the same price.
Every client anticipates their phone to keep its "latest" label for a minimum of a few
months. Customers of Realme, however, did not experience this.
Furthermore, we have observed several occasions when the company fails to promptly
release upgrades for already-existing devices. Realme should thus concentrate on improving
its current products rather than making periodic pointless updates.
According to Mr. Madhav Sheth's teaser, Realme introduced more than a hundred goods
and services in 2021. Mobile phones, speakers, premium wearables, flagship smartphones,
smart locks, auto chargers, power banks, and an intriguing sweeping machine will be among
them.
SWOT Analysis of REALME
Realme may do a SWOT analysis to concentrate on maximizing its benefits and
opportunities while addressing its drawbacks and threats to enhance its position in the
market.
REALME STRENGTHS
The core components of Realme that give it a competitive edge are seen as being its
strengths. Among the numerous factors that may affect a brand's strength are a company's
financial stability, the caliber of its employees, the uniqueness of its goods, and intangible
assets like brand value.
According to the SWOT analysis, Realme has the following advantages:
1. In more than 50 countries, including China, India, and all of Europe, Realme is now the
most popular smartphone brand.
2. Realme offers several versions with modern features like the Selfie Expert.
3. The brand offers premium features, such as superior memory and cameras, at
competitive prices.
4. Realme has done a superb job of branding and marketing the company, using celebrities
to promote its products.
5. The company manufactures tablets, smartwatches, Blu-ray players, headphones, and cell
phones.
6. BBK Electronics owns the parent company of Realme, Vivo, and One Plus, each of which is
expanding swiftly.
7. The business is well known for manufacturing and delivering more than 100 million
phones each year.
Weaknesses of Realme:
The company's flaws are particular areas where a brand should make changes to boost its
standing. The weaknesses of a firm can be characterized as areas where they fall short or
where they are outperformed by competitors.
The Realme SWOT Analysis's shortcomings are as follows:
1. Mobile business margins are constrained by fierce competition.
2. The brand does not clearly distinguish itself from other smartphone brands in its
category.
Realme Opportunities
Every brand can get better, which may increase sales. A brand may have opportunities for
regional expansion, product improvements, better communication, etc.
In the Realme SWOT Analysis, the following opportunities are listed:
1. Realme can expand by strengthening its existing associations with sports and activities.
2. To compete with other brands and strengthen its position as a strong brand, the company
might introduce a flagship phone.
3. Purchasing lesser brands might help to further boost the brand.
4. Expanding the brand into other consumer electronics goods can aid in brand
development.
Any company might be in danger from factors that could hurt it. Threats may arise from a
multitude of sources, such as escalating rivalry, changing governmental directions,
competing products, and services, etc...
Following is a list of the risks identified in Realme’s SWOT analysis:
1. Realme has restricted margins due to fierce pricing competition in the mobile industry.
2. The market for mobile devices and smartphones is very brand- and price-sensitive.
3. Because it is a worldwide brand, it is impacted by political and economic conditions as
well as changing currency values.
Competitors of Realme
In the market, some companies are vying for the same group of consumers. Following are
Realme’s top 9 rivals:
1. Samsung, Inc.
2. Vivo
3. One Plus
4. Xiaomi
5. HTC
6. Nokia
7. Panasonic
8. IQOO
9. Apple
Samsung Strengths
Examined in terms of the company's advantages are the key business sectors that provide
Samsung with a competitive edge. A brand's strength may be explained by several factors,
including its financial stability, the level of competence among its employees, the uniqueness
of its offerings, and intangible assets like brand value. Below is a list of benefits of
Samsung's analysis.
1. Samsung is a well-known consumer electronics company with a long history and a solid
reputation in the market.
2. Sales are boosted by Samsung's availability of several models and choices in various price
ranges. For instance, nearly every price range is represented in the Samsung Galaxy line of
smartphones.
3. It ranks highly in the production of mobile phones, home appliances, and TVs.
4. Samsung has global brand recognition on par with the largest IT companies.
5. The company is well known for delivering innovative new models and keeping the market
humming each year.
6. Samsung not only sells its finished goods but also a lot of components to other
manufacturers, such as LCD panels, memory, etc.
7. One of the company's most well-known product lines is its Samsung Galaxy smartphone
range.
8. There are more than 250,000 workers for the business worldwide.
9. Samsung is a global firm as its goods are sold everywhere.
10. The company uses effective advertising methods to promote its products, including TV
commercials, web advertisements, print ads, sponsored events, and digital marketing.
11. Samsung generates more than $200 billion in sales each year.
Samsung Weaknesses
The precise aspects of a brand's operation that may be strengthened to boost its position
are considered to be its weaknesses. Some shortcomings can be characterized as
capabilities that the company lacks or in which the competition excels. Following are the
shortcomings of the Samsung SWOT Analysis:
1. Due to intense competition, Samsung must make considerable investments to gain even a
small part of the market.
2. Prior legal conflicts, litigation, and resistance from environmental organizations affect the
company's reputation.
Realme Product Strategy: The following examples will help you understand the product
plan and mix in the Realme marketing strategy:
Smartphones
Youthful customers have been the company's main target market in the Realme
smartphone division. To meet their wants and expectations, Realme has produced very
small phones with some highly tempting features, such as rotating cameras, dual selfies, etc.
to enhance their "selfie" taking experience. By claiming to be the "selfie specialist" in the
market through various methods, they have attempted to set their smartphone apart from
the other items that are currently being offered by their rivals. Additionally, they adhere to
the principle of customer research and have improved batteries to address a significant
problem that consumers have, namely, rapid battery depletion due to intensive usage. They
have done this by creating flash charging technologies.
High-quality headphones and audio equipment are other specialties of this firm.
Smartwatch
The company has also started producing smartwatches, which fit in perfectly with their
smartphone marketing approach.
With brands like Realme, Vivo, and OnePlus under its wing, its parent firm BBK Electronics is
a market leader in the production of smartphones. Other consumer electronics are sold by
Realme Digital's consumer electronics business, and the company makes its line of audio
and video decoders for its high-end devices.
Distribution REALME:
The Realme marketing mix's distribution approach is as follows:
The majority of Realme smartphones are sold in south Asian nations like China, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and
Indonesia. Realme smartphones are available in more than 20 markets, with products
tailored specifically for each market's requirements. Realme doesn't depend on
conventional retail establishments
to reach its customers. Instead, it operates experience stores around the nation where
prospective buyers can touch, feel, and learn more about the product's characteristics. The
experience stores also provide several additional internal services including phone charging,
Wi-Fi, software updates, and application downloads. The majority of its sales are made on
online shopping portals. Furthermore, Realme Digital’s products are only sold in the USA,
Canada, and Mexico through its dedicated online site, and in Europe, they are sold both in-
person and online through third-party approved merchants. Annual mobile phone
shipments from Realme exceed 100 million units worldwide.
When it came to YoY growth, Realme was able to exceed other brands.
The budget-segment C-series and Narzo-series contributed to Realme's success in
the smartphone market.
In 2021, Realme is anticipated to concentrate more on its offline business
While the coronavirus pandemic was unable to reduce consumer desire for smartphones,
the worldwide smartphone industry recovered with encouraging statistics, the Indian
smartphone market had a slight dip in smartphone shipments in 2020. Over 150 million
devices were delivered last year despite a 4% decline in exports. Realme, which
outperformed all other brands in terms of year-over-year (YoY) growth, was the greatest
winner. Realme saw the largest increase of 22% and the first-ever crossing of the 20-million-
unit threshold as a result of its aggressive marketing strategy. Oddly, Oppo, the firm from
which it was set out, dropped to the fifth spot in the lists.
Despite high YoY growth from realme, Samsung regains second place in India
Smartphones Q1 2022
With a YoY growth rate of 40% in Q1 2022 compared to a market drop of 3%, Realme
stood out among the top 5 smartphone brands in India .
Samsung, Realme, and Xiaomi are the top three smartphone brands in India. With a strong
Q1 2022, Samsung was able to reclaim second place from Xiaomi thanks to its flagship S22
and value-oriented A series models, which have helped Samsung close the volume gap with
Xiaomi.
In Q1 2022, Xiaomi was able to maintain its dominance in the Indian smartphone market,
but the distance between first and second place has shrunk considerably to only 3 points.
Apple had a solid quarter with a 20% increase. In volume terms, YoY continues to have
difficulty getting close to even a 5% share.
With several new models coming from the top 5 manufacturers, who now hold over 80% of
the market, the smartphone battle in India is expected to heat up. Thankfully, the impact of
COVID-19 was minimal in Q1 even though supply chain difficulties are still significant.
Xiaomi is still ahead of Samsung, which is in second place, but the distance is becoming
smaller. The volume battle between Samsung, Realme, and Vivo is similarly growing so close
that a photo finish may be required in the future.
How smartphone maker Realme cracked the tough Indian market
In the world's fastest-growing major smartphone market, Realme held 16 percent of the
market for smartphones shipped in India in the first quarter of this year, overtaking leaders
Xiaomi and Samsung.
The upstart Chinese firm Realme made a gamble in India last year when a global chip
scarcity prompted several smartphone makers to postpone releases. Realme opted to
purchase the CPUs from a largely unheard-of Shanghai company to continue producing new
handset models since processors from multinational corporations like Qualcomm Inc. were
in limited supply.
The four-year-old newcomer's sales increased as a result of the move, which propelled it to
No. 3 in the market, which is rapidly expanding and has approximately 600 million
smartphone users. In the most recent quarter, only Samsung Electronics Co. and Xiaomi
Corp. sold more gadgets in India, while Realme is narrowing the gap.
Closely held Realme has become a powerhouse in the rich but dangerous Indian market,
where even major international companies like Apple Inc. have had difficulty navigating
regulatory obstacles. And while the two nuclear-armed nations have been engaged in a
political conflict recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration has increased the
monitoring of Chinese corporations. The government crackdown has so far gone unnoticed
by Realme. It creates more jobs locally by manufacturing all cell phones it sells in India.
Furthermore, Realme's Android smartphones, which may cost as little as $100, are assisting
India in attracting new customers to the internet. These devices are a tenth of the price of
Samsung and iPhone models.
Madhav Sheth, the country manager for Realme, stated in an interview at a coffee shop
close to the regional office of the business outside of New Delhi, "What I want to achieve is
to bring more affordability to the India market." Realme believes in working with authorities
and complies with all Indian legal requirements, he claimed.
In sharp contrast to the challenges its larger competitors have encountered, Realme has had
relatively smooth sailing. In addition to a long legal battle over a state-built spam-detection
tool that accesses users' phone history, Apple has had to fight the government for years
simply to build retail locations in the nation. This year, the government slapped down on
market leader Xiaomi, aiming to seize more than $700 million from the Chinese business.
This unnerved India's budding electronics sector as a whole.
"Investing in India remains somewhat riskier for international firms since rules frequently
change without adequate notice, "said Shumita Deveshwar, senior director at TS Lombard, a
consultant for investment strategy. "India has also supported the expansion of local
businesses, although occasionally the country's politics make it a risky battlefield,
particularly for international investors."
Realme has benefited from the difficulties faced by competitors by increasing its distribution
to over 40,000 retailers and launching gadgets at low prices, such as the Realme 8 5G, which
cost 13,999 rupees ($180) last year and was the cheapest fifth-generation cellular device at
the time. According to tech analyst Tarun Pathak of Counterpoint, such strategies have
helped it erode Xiaomi's and Samsung's market dominance in India.
By shipping volume, Realme had 16 percent of the Indian smartphone market in the first
quarter of this year, up from 11 percent in the same period last year. It only trails Samsung's
20 percent and Xiaomi's 23 percent, and according to Counterpoint, it was the only
company to increase in double digits last year while competitors dropped.
Xiaomi and Samsung's growth has been stifled by Realme, according to Pathak.
Requests for a response from Samsung and Xiaomi personnel were not answered.
Realme opened its first worldwide flagship shop this month in Gujarat, buoyed by its
successes. Realme's strategy to establish itself as a more premium company in India
includes the 13,000-square-foot location in Ahmedabad. In addition to recently entering
European markets, the corporation sees India as a step toward global development.
With ties to the more well-known brand Oppo, Realme must exercise caution in India where
Chinese businesses have been forced to deal with the consequences of a border
confrontation between the two nations in 2020. Since then, New Delhi has blocked more
than 200 Chinese applications, and tax authorities have searched the offices of major
smartphone manufacturers like Xiaomi and Oppo.
"India and China have a complicated relationship, therefore Chinese-based businesses will
inevitably be subject to some kind of government inspection, "According to Amitendu Palit,
a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore's Institute of South Asian
Studies. "If there is a thaw in the icy ties between Beijing and New Delhi, we are likely to see
some feeling of normalcy returning to business, but if the relations continue to you, we
could see it spilling over to business."
India has also attempted to support the growth of regional businesses. The government
unveiled a $7 billion plan in 2020 to provide financial incentives to boost domestic
smartphone production and exports. The creation of "local champions," or smartphone
behemoths, capable of competing with the finest in the world while also serving domestic
consumers, was a crucial component of that goal.
Realme and other overseas brands are attracting more customers due to a perceived quality
advantage, but domestic smartphone players Lava and Micromax have been unable to take
advantage of such incentives. According to Mumbai-based marketer Vijay Shankar Kriplani,
Realme distinguishes itself by offering affordable costs together with high-end features.
Realme, which, like its competitors, markets its smartphones using the glitz and glamour of
Indian cricket and Bollywood, doesn't want its success to be limited to just smartphones. It
has plans to start assembling tablets and laptops locally as soon as this month as part of its
India development strategy. In addition, the business would spend Rs. 100 million to launch
a design studio, produce wireless earbuds, and expand its network of single-brand stores to
600 locations over the next two years, according to Sheth. These changes should enable
Realme to increase its sales by 50% over the next two years, he claimed.
Realme will still struggle to maintain its rapid growth, according to Rishabh Doshi of IT
consultant Canalys, as macroeconomic problems worsen and it faces more formidable
competitors.
"Realme has done well in India thus far, but it must prepare for challenging times ahead
owing to rising prices, lengthier phone replacement cycles, and as a global recession
approach, "said Doshi. Smaller firms like Realme will likely have to reduce their budgets, and
that'll likely be their largest issue. Deep-pocketed giants like Samsung have other businesses
to feed the growth of their smartphone units in this climate."