Awareness and willingness to buy a 5G Smartphone is highest among Millennials aged 21-30: PredictiVu Report

Better gender ratio in sales staff, Hyperlocal omni-channel marketing, social media for CX, and enterprise-wide IT Adoption imperative for offline retail MBOs to drive customer in-store footprints in 2021

Overall Survey Highlights – 5G Adoption and Offline MBO Retail Trends:

Nearly 1 out of 4 MBO customers surveyed, totaling 78%, claimed that they are familiar with 5G
Awareness and intention to buy a 5G smartphone is highest among Millennials aged 21-30.
Next to awareness, purchase potential for 5G phone is strong, with 73% interested to buy 5G enabled phones
89% consumers are veering towards MBOs that guarantee cleanliness, amicable staff and ambience.
Advertising influences 23% of consumers to make a purchase.
37% of the largest MBOs and 97% of the smallest didn’t use in-store tech for admin or marketing purposes
Large MBO players are more adaptive, agile to changing behavior than small and medium ones.
Extra-large stores employ the most women (36.8%) and the percentage declines with store size
Trend indicated that employing women employees didn’t affect sales to women customers

PredictiVu, India’s leading analytics firm, today unveiling their MBO: Smartphone India Overview Part 2, revealed that awareness and willingness to buy a 5G smartphone is highest among millennials aged 21-30 when it comes to 5G interest among consumers and that better gender ratio in sales staff, hyperlocal marketing, social media for CX, and enterprise-wide IT adoption would be critical drivers for offline retail MBOs to succeed in 2021.

5G is going to be a big driver for smartphone consumers and MBOs need to embrace it with better 5G ads and an effective omni channel marketing strategy to woo more women buyers, high potential market segment, to their offline stores. While the propensity to purchase 5G enabled smartphones are as high as 73%, about 89% consumers would prefer to step into MBOs that guarantees cleanliness, amicable staff and superior ambience.

The report based on the near real time assessment of datasets of 1208 consumers and 2080 retailers which further is bifurcated on the basis of age and gender, have captured the following key trends in the consumer behavior towards 5G adoption and changes that Offline MBO retailers need to adopt to maximize their growth potential in the pandemic year.

MBO CUSTOMERS AND 5G – PREDICTIVU SURVEY (Sample Size- 1208)

PredictiVu’s Top findings: MBO Customers and 5G

According to the survey, nearly 1 out of 4 MBO customers are 5G aware.
34% of the consumers have high awareness, 30% have awareness, 14% are familiar and 22% have never heard of 5G.
Alongside awareness, purchase potential is strong, as 73% of smartphone owners surveyed are interested to buy a 5G enabled smartphone in the future.
89% consumers are veering towards MBOs that guarantee cleanliness, amicable staff and superior ambience.
86% male within millennials reflected the potential to shift to a 5G phone
94.3% are buying from local retail store while only 4.7% shopped from MBO chains.
MBOs have high potential to educate consumers in-store on 5G technology enabled smartphones

MBO RETAILER’S SIDE OF THE STORY (Sample Size- 2080)

PredictiVu’s Top findings: MBO Retailer’s SIDE OF THE STORY

37% of the largest MBOs and 97% of the smallest didn’t use in-store tech for admin or marketing purposes
Extra-large stores employ the most women (36.8%) and the percentage declines with store size. 13.6% of the surveyed MBOs have female staff in their sales department.
Only 23.6% retailers believe that employing women will help in enhancing their overall sales.
Hiring more female staff across levels and running effective training programmes critical as gender does not define a skill or dictate the quality of work.
Under digital usage, more than 24% of retailers uses digital billing for payment.
Almost 98% retailers did not start other business during lockdown showing more resilience against market odds.
Better gender ratio in sales staff, hyperlocal Omni-channel marketing, social media for CX, and enterprise-wide IT adoption imperative for offline retail MBOs to succeed in 2021

Introducing the report, Kunal Sarkar, Vice President, PredictiVu, said, “The 5G adoption will be a significant growth driver for the offline retail MBO, given that the pandemic has brought the entire retail industry closer. Raising customer awareness about 5G is imperative now. Offerings and strategies to woo women buyers within millennials to shift purchase focus to offline stores is important. Better partnerships with brands, monitoring online exchange schemes to offer better deals, attractive advertisements using omni-channel and hyperlocal marketing strategy can improve foot traffic to physical locations of the MBOs and capitalize on a huge market. Further, better gender ratio in sales staff, social media usage for CX, and enterprise-wide IT adoption is essential for offline retail MBOs to better sales output in 2021. Am grateful to unveil “MBO: Smartphone India Overview Part 2: Apr-Jun 2021″ahead of the festive season, so that retailers can plan more engaging strategies and better customer in-store footprints and further set appropriate marketing goals to grow in a post-pandemic recovery phase”, he added.

Rajesh Kurup, Strategic Advisory Board, PredictiVu said,”Fast, accurate insights into consumer behaviour and preferences are important facets to competitive success and delivering stellar consumer experiences. This report released at the perfect time will aid offline MBO retailers and marketers to get a comprehensive view and understanding of the key trends influencing consumer behaviour towards 5G and offline store purchase decisions. “

About PredictiVu:

PredictiVu is India first of its kind analytics firm and one-stop solution for CMOs and marketers, specialized in correlating marketing campaign performance at an immense granular level with proprietary retail purchase data, digital trends, customer preferences, media spend, to deliver near-real-time business intelligence insights 10 times faster than traditional methods. With AI/ML powered data visualization tools and solutions, the firm aims to deliver exceptionally agile, flexible, reliable consolidated, and holistic business intelligence insights that can help marketers drive business growth for enterprises and brands, map competitor performance at deeper level and maximize the RoI of marketing live campaigns. Headquartered at Gurugram, PredictiVu’s investors include Nomura Research Institute and Info-bridge Marketing and Promotions Co. Ltd. which bring in decades of industry, analytics, and consulting experience.

For more info, visit, https://predictivu.com/

PredictiVu’s MBO Smartphone India Overview Report 2021 (Q1-Jan-Mar ’21 & Q2Apr-Jun ’21) reveals that crucial benefits like personalized shopping experience, instant delivery, touch & feel, unbiased product review, product authenticity drove offline smartphone MBOs growth despite the pandemic impact and rise of online smartphone sales competition
India’s overall smartphone market witnessed a slump of -51.7% & -54.6% in sales volume and value in Q2 ’21 amidst the Covid19 2^ND wave
Although India’s top 5 metros leaned towards online channels and top 50 Indian cities accounted for 60% of smartphone sales, MBOs claimed 45% of the total sales
Among all smartphone brands, Vivo, Xiaomi, Samsung and OPPO hold the respective top spots in Q1&Q2 2021 among MBO Smartphone brands by share of value and volume
West India and South India topped in Q1 and Q2 respectively in both sales volume and value
Omni-channel, Tech Savviness, Hyperlocal Business Models will drive strategic partnership between Smartphone brands and offline Retail MBOs

New Delhi, Aug 2021: PredictiVu, India’s leading analytics firm, today unveiling their MBO Smartphone India Overview Report 2021 data, revealed that the ensuing lockdown and tough competition from online sales during the pandemic had no damaging impact on the Indian offline smartphone MBOs. Acting as influencers and guiding smartphone buying sentiments of consumers, offline retail emerged as the biggest sales channel in India contributing more than half of all smartphone sales despite the unprecedented pandemic triggered online boom. The report based on an analysis of data collected from around 5k MBO retailers from top 50 cities in India integrated into their AI powered visualization tool – DMO, reflects interesting insights and trends of the growing offline retail MBO segment for smartphone brands.

PredictiVu Insights \| MBOs : Smartphone Brands Performance by Value and Volume
*Share by Volume*	*Share by Value*
Q1 ‘21	Vivo (26%) toppedOppo & Samsung both ranked 2^nd with 22% share each	Q1 ‘21	Vivo (28%) topped.Samsung and Oppo both claimed 2^nd spot, with 22% share each.Xiaomi (11%) and Realme (8%) took 3^rd and 4^th spots respectively.
Q2 ‘21	VIVO (24%) topped. Xiaomi (21%) claimed the 2^nd spot. Oppo (19%) & Samsung (17%) and took 3^rd and 4^th spots respectively.	Q2 ‘21	Vivo (27%) toppedOppo & Xiaomi both claimed 2^nd spot taking 19% share each Samsung (17%) and Realme (10%) took 3^rd and 4^th spots respectively.

PredictiVu Insights \| MBOs : Indian Zone Performance by Value and Volume
*Share by Volume*	*Share by Value*
Q1 ‘21	West India topped with 39%North India ranked 2^nd with 28%East India had the lowest share by volume	Q1 ‘21	West India topped with 21% North India ranked 2^nd with 27%East India has the lowest share by value
Q2 ‘21	South India topped with 31%West India ranked 2^nd spot with 27%East India improved claiming 3^rd spot	Q2 ‘21	South India topped with 31% North India ranked 2^nd with 27%East India improved claiming 3^rd spot

The report says that strong consumer trust and constructive steps taken by the 3 key pillars of the industry – Retailers, Smartphone Brands and the Government will continue to fortify the intrinsic strength of MBOs in the upcoming quarters. Regardless of the pandemic crisis, lockdowns, and increasing competition from e-com giants, MBOs including the small and regional players, will continue to flourish.

PredictiVu Insights \| MBOs : Ways in which Retailers, Smartphone Brands and The Government will Influence the market
*MBOs/Retailers*	*Smartphone Brands*	*Government*
To bet big on store expansion, strategic partnerships and pricing strategy	Tier 2 & 3 cities to drive offline retail channel business sentiments in 2021.	Govt. policy on e-com site flash sales ban that gave a prominent head-start to MBOs collective strength
Large ones going Omni-channel, tech savvy and turning to Hyperlocal Business Models	Smartphone brand majors like Xiaomi, Realme offline presence expansion and third party offline retail specialists for inventory management	Ruling that e-com to ensure that none of the related parties and associated enterprises are listed as sellers on their sites
Mid to small MBOs, on increased awareness to follow the trends of large chains	Consumer trust in brick & mortar store models in deeper pockets and cities where a mass market lie is driving strategic partnerships between brands and offline retailers	Policies and Regulations to positively impact offline MBO’s business prospects and significance among Smartphone brand players

Introducing the report, Kunal Sarkar, Vice President, PredictiVu, said, “Offline retail MBOs will significantly drive smartphone growth prospect in the coming quarters. It’s interesting to note under PredictiVu’s analysis that within the top 50 Indian cities that accounted for 60% of smartphone sales, MBOs claimed 45% of the total sales. The pandemic led challenges have not mellowed down MBOs prominence in the consumer mind but instead have driven growth due to the unique nature of benefits they have offered. This influencer community is a key component in the marketing strategy and brand war of top smartphone brands who plan to expand brand reach and penetrate deeper into cities and towns now.” “Am happy unveiling PredictiVu’s MBO Smartphone India Overview Report: Apr-June 2021 which will aid smartphone brand marketers to set appropriate marketing goals in a post pandemic recovery phase”, he added.

Rajesh Kurup, Strategic Advisory Board, PredictiVu said, “Deriving near real-time analytics for a dynamic market like the offline smartphone MBO segment that holds immense potential for a brand’s success needed firstly holistic understanding and secondly, appropriate integration of diverse inputs right from consumers, ad-spends, Retail and Social listening. This report prepared with the insight from PredictiVu’s dashboard, that excellently embodies all of the above, will definitely allow smartphone brand marketers to monitor and manage marketing interventions better both at an enterprise and specific segment level.”

Tag: PredictiVu