OnePlus opens first offline store in Pune as it furthers its offline presence in the country
Pune, 13 August 2018: Further to the success of the existing offline touchpoints, OnePlus, the leading premium smartphone maker, announced today it has set up an authorized store in Pune on 11th August 2018. The store has opened at Phoenix Market City, Pune.
This is in line with the company’s increased focus on additional offline touchpoints in India considering that the Indian market is the biggest revenue contributor for OnePlus, making for over 1/3rd of the company’s revenue in 2017. In 2018, OnePlus is set to open over 10 new offline touchpoints in 10 key markets. Additionally, the Shenzhen-based company will also be opening an R&D centre in India in line with its commitment to make India its second headquarters.
According to the recently released Counterpoint Market Monitor Service Data Q2 2018, OnePlus has emerged as the leader in the premium smartphone segment in India with 40% market share, followed by Samsung and Apple at 34% and 14% respectively. OnePlus was also the fastest growing smartphone brand annually, growing at 284%.
Speaking on the occasion, “India is our largest market and the community here is one of the most engaged and vocal user-base at OnePlus. Following their positive response to the existing experience and authorized stores, we have decided to increase the number of offline touchpoints in the country. Pune is one of our most important markets. There is a growing new segment of young students and tech savvy users who are upgrading to premium smartphones. This is the segment that we appeal to, owing to our focus on bringing the best technology and we expect OnePlus to be the brand of choice, in the premium smartphone segment for them”, Vikas Agarwal, GM at OnePlus India, said.
OnePlus opened their first offline store in the form of the OnePlus Experience Store in January, 2017 in Bangalore which has been an overwhelming success for the company. Since the opening of the store, OnePlus’ offline as well as online sales have grown exponentially. When compared with the OnePlus 5, OnePlus 6 sales volumes in the OnePlus Experience Store grew at a staggering 91%. The company noticed that community members who are able to touch-and-feel the device are more confident about their purchases and feel more comfortable with the brand. By increasing offline touchpoints with consumers through offline stores, service centres and pop-ups, the company looks to improve customer experience by giving them first-hand opportunity to use the device before purchase.
