Chinese smartphone maker Realme India has initiated talks with leading cellphone and consumer electronics retail chains for sales of its handsets after several of them stopped or refused to sell due to low margin offered, chief executive officer Madhav Sheth said.
Talking to ET, Sheth said the company has just inked a deal with Souths leading cellphone retail chain, Sangeetha Mobile to sell its products. As of now, offline sales accounts for 20% of Realmes revenue with presence in 8,000 cellphone stores in 50 cities, which it wants to scale up to 20,000 outlets in 150 cities.
“We are discussing with all the big chains on margin, product placement and selling of accessories which we will launch in second half. If there is consumer demand then retailers will be bound to keep the product. We want to generate more demand,” said Sheth.
Realme which started operations last year May, is owned by Chinas BBK Group that also owns Oppo, Vivo and OnePlus. Realme became the fifth largest last smartphone maker in India in January-March quarter as per IDC after Xiaomi, Samsung, Vivo and Oppo and third largest in online sales after Xiaomi and Samsung in the same period as per Counterpoint Research.
As per regulatory filings with Registrar of Companies (RoC), Realme has recently set up a separate entity in India – Realme Mobile Telecommunications – as compared to earlier when sales was accounted in Oppo Indias books. Realme Mobile has also filed to RoC that it has increased its authorised share capital to raise funds for business.
Realme Mobile Telecommunications is going to set-up stores in India through foreign direct investment (FDI) in single brand retail under automatic route, after having taken-over ownership of its exclusive online store.
Sheth said the company has taken over ownership of
realme.com l
