Overview:
Smartphone shipments in the online channel reached their highest ever share of 46% during Q3 2019, according to the latest research from Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service. Online channel shipments grew 55% year-on-year (YoY) in Q3 2019 driven by new launches and aggressive sell-in ahead of annual online sales like Flipkart’s Big Billion and Amazon’s Great India festive season sale. As a result of this, both Flipkart and Amazon reached their highest ever quarterly smartphone shipments in the online segment.
Flipkart led the overall online market with a 57% share, Amazon grew faster (+75% YoY) to capture 33% share within overall online channels. realme and Xiaomi were the best-selling brands on Flipkart while Xiaomi, Samsung and OnePlus drove Amazon’s growth. The growth and maturity of online channels, by serving more zip codes than ever, coupled with greater customer service, attractive promotions from discounts, to cashback, to EMI and exchange offers helped brands like Xiaomi and realme to take a lead in the online segment.
Within smartphone brands, Xiaomi retained the top spot in the online channels, with 38% share, driven by the strong performance of its Redmi 7A, Note 7 Pro and Note 7S models. Festive offers brought down the entry-level price-point of Xiaomi Redmi series to ~$70 (INR 4999) leading to a strong uptick on Amazon.
realme online shipments hit a record high with more than 4.5x YoY growth as it focused aggressively in sub $200 segment with some industry-first device features like 64MP camera. Samsung gained share in the online segment driven by success of its M30s model on Amazon, due to its long battery life (6000mAH) in the budget segment.
Vivo became the number four player in the online segment for the first time ever, driven by its increased focus towards the online channel with its recently launched models, U10, Z1X, and Z1 Pro.
Online shipments in the premium segment reached a record high with 79% YoY growth. OnePlus remained strong on Amazon and this has helped the brand to remain #1 player in the online premium segment.
This article examines recent online smartphone market trends along with the competitive landscape of the online platforms in Q3 2019.
Number of Pages : 3
Author: Anshika Jain
Published Date: November 2019
