Coolpad Group, also known as Coolpad Dazen, has chosen Snapdeal as its official and exclusive partner for its India entry, giving the Delhi-based e-commerce player a crucial victory in its fight against bigger peers Amazon and Flipkart.
Flipkart has landed most of the exclusive launches in India, and according to our estimate, has a market share of over half of such deals in the smartphone and tablet space.
Amazon too has landed some deals recently, such as the Yu Yuphoria. Coolpad Dazen win should help Snapdeal remain in contention, while also helping the platform offer something to the entry-level LTE smartphone buyer.
The entry-level LTE smartphone market is red hot in India right now, as LTE networks are still being rolled out, and anyone who wants to buy a smartphone is keen to ‘future proof’ the purchase by including 4G LTE.
In addition, the difference between a 4G version and a non-4G version of entry-level smartphones has declined to just about Rs 1,000.
The cheapest entry-level LTE smartphone in India is currently the Yu Yuphoria, which is priced at just Rs 6,990 and has 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage memory. Its competitors, such as the Lenovo A6000 Plus and Moto E, are sold exclusively by Flipkart.
Snapdeal and Coolpad Dazen plan to address primarily the LTE market, going by their announcement today.
“A leader in 4G/ LTE segment, Coolpad Dazen is one of the world’s fastest growing smartphone players and also the fastest growing online brand in China,” they said.
“With Coolpad Dazen, we want to lead the next wave of disruption in the Indian smartphone market, with high quality devices, game-changing specs and innovation designed specially for our Indian customers,” said Varun Sharma, India CEO, Coolpad Dazen.
Coolpad Dazen does indeed have some top-line models to its name. The Dazen X7, for example, comes with a high-end MT6595 processor, 13 MP Sony camera and 5.2 inch full-HD display. The phone is priced at around Rs 19,000 before taxes. Including Indian taxes, therefore, it should be about 23,000.
The Dazen also has a model with no side bezels.
Online sellers are a crucial part of the low-cost mobile phone phenomenon. While a normal Rs-6000-phone will have to be priced at least at Rs 8,000 to ensure distribution costs and dealer margins, in online retail, the total distribution and commissions can be kept inside Rs 1000.
Coolpad Group says that it holds more than 6000 patents including dual sim, dual standby amongst others. Company’s manufacturing facilities produces more than 60 million handsets every year.
Coolpad Group Limited was founded in 1993, and was listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in December 2004.
Recently, Chinese internet firm Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd has invested $409 million in Coolpad Group Ltd. The JV is expected to leverage Coolpad’s expertise in smartphone design, manufacturing, supply chain management, and aftermarket services, while benefiting from Qihoo 360’s capabilities in Internet security software, mobile apps development and online marketing.