Mobile phone is a basic communication and work tool for most Nigerians and as such has become an absolute necessity for people to communicate and do business. Consumers also need reliable devices that offer them all the features they expect from a smartphone but at an affordable price. As such price plays a key deciding factor for the majority of consumers who need to stay in touch and do business on the go.
A key factor in Nigeria is the connectivity issues faced due to the growing demand for mobile devices. This puts a strain on the infrastructure and has created the need for many consumers to carry a second supporting mobile device in order to stay connected through an alternate network.
Nigeria is still very much a growing mobile market which creates the perfect opportunity for Alcatel.
What do you think is new that Nigerians could appreciate especially when it comes to design in your phone line?
At Alcatel we believe that technology should do more than change the way we do things. It should make life… MORE. It should ease, and enrich the now, without over-complicating it. It should feed your hunger for discovery. Get everything you want and nothing you don’t. Leave behind the excess and simplify your life. It should be enjoyable, meaningful, and authentic.
It is our mission at Alcatel to bring innovation to a broad spectrum of consumers in Nigeria by offering them attractive, feature-rich and affordable products in a fast fashion manner.
Alcatel provides the ultimate tools for those who produce the life they imagine and we will continue to enable people to create, share and invent without limits irrespective of their culture or ingenuity. Alcatel believes that what makes technology smart is what you can do with it rather than what it can do.
Our new products offer innovation and customisation to give consumers exactly what they want and nothing unnecessary. We aim at bringing consumers devices that allows them to create, do and enjoy life. We have blended style and functionality that allows the consumer to express their personality.
Affordability and the mass market go hand in hand. So far how well do you think you have been able to penetrate the market?
We recognise that every smartphone user needs and deserves a device that offers good performance, beautiful aesthetics and rich functionality. As such, we’ll strive to offer choice, variety and flexibility to consumers irrespective of their budget.
With our renewed focus in Nigeria we have spent the past months giving Nigerian consumers, partners, operators and their consumers’ easy access to our vast range of affordable products. This includes establishing the fundamentals such as in store devices, both live and dummy, promoters, a field marketing team, online purchasing / promotions and training for sales staff etc. We believe we are delivering on this and once this has been firmly established we will then turn our focus on building Alcatel into a major player in the Nigerian market. We have the brand, the products and the distribution capabilities to grow aggressively in the years to come.
Nigeria is a key market why did it take Alcatel so long before registering its presence again after a lull?
According to Q4 2015 IDC + company data Alcatel is number 5 worldwide in the total phone market with 4.5% Market Share. Alcatel is IDC Top 2015- 2016 Top10 Global Smartphone brands and IDC 2015-2016 Top 15 Global Smart Connected Devices Brand. So globally Alcatel has strong presence therefore when entering the Nigerian marketplace we needed to ensure that we had all the fundamentals in place. Key to this was ensuring we had a strong instore presence with live and dummy in store devices, promoters, a field marketing team, online purchasing / promotions and training for sales staff etc. In addition it was key to us that we partnered with the right distributors in order to ensure that the Nigerian consumers have every opportunity to get their hands on the perfect mix of Alcatel devices that are feature rich and affordable.
Can you explain more on the partnership with Konga?
E-commerce is seen as an opportunity for Alcatel to create deep partnerships with platforms such as Konga, Jumia and Yudala. This means that we are fully integrated in the end-to-end delivery of the product. This includes ranging, pricing and marketing of the product
We work with our partners to understand consumers’ requirements and needs in order to bring them the most suitable products within our product portfolio.
We have partnered with Konga.com to bring the Alcatel Pop Star smartphone to the Nigerian market at an affordable price.
Still talking about partnership, how close are you with the computer village phone dealers; is there any collaboration because for some time we heard some stories about some brands having issues with phone dealers at the computer village?
In order to reach the mass market in Nigeria, it is advantageous for companies, particularly technology companies to partner with the Computer Village. This gives companies access to all areas and villages throughout the country, through their distribution and dealer network.
Talking about pricing, how good and how friendly is your price?
Alcatel aims at making technology available to the market. This means making it available at affordable prices without compromising on features and style. We believe that we have managed to achieve this with the products launched in Nigeria.
In essence, you are saying as far as Alcatel is concerned the brand is more important than the price.
Alcatel as a brand focuses on giving consumers what they want. We listen to our consumers and they want feature rich yet affordable prices. Therefore at Alcatel it is important to us to give our consumers what they need.
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