Smaller-towns and cities driving smartphone growth in India

Market researcher IDC has reported during the festive month of October 2016, the Tier 2&3 cities in India led the sales-growth with a growth of 23.3% over previous month majorly due to vendors focusing on new affordable launches, higher spending on marketing and innovative payment options. According to Upasana Joshi , Senior Market Analyst, IDC India, “The key four months from July to October 2016 made up more than 40 percent of the annual smartphone sales. The festive season in India starting in August with Independence Day till Diwali in October, drove the consumer buying across all markets. Multiple sales by all major e-commerce players in October with their high decibel marketing, attractive payment options and exchange offers also helped in growing the market. The top 8 to 10 cities of India constitute the major portion of online sales, leaving a yawning gap between these markets and the still largely untapped smaller towns. Historically, consumers from Tier 3&4 cities have been averse to online buying, showed significant interest in the online festive sales this year.” “It was almost like a “Chinese Smartphone Diwali” across all city tiers. China based players contributed significantly to the growth at the offline retail counters, while continuing to dominate the Online channel. These vendors collectively accounted for more than 40 percent market share in the top 30...