Mobile Marketing Strategy

Mobile marketing strategy D.E. Schultz, the founder of integrated marketing communication theory, once said: After entering the 1990s, only "channels" and "communication" can produce differentiated competitive advantages. The role of channels is very prominent in my country's mobile phone market. The large inventory of mobile phones makes a complete consumer-centered buyer's market almost a reality. For manufacturers, whoever occupies the market will have the upper hand and will be able to gain the basis for sustainable development. Channels are an effective way for products to enter the market and are a bridge between product producers and the market. Mastering and controlling sales channels means mastering and controlling the market. Nowadays, mobile phones tend to be homogeneous in terms of functions, appearance, price and even advertising. It is very difficult to win the competition based on the independent advantages of products alone. The differentiated competition in channels is increasingly becoming the focus of the development of my country's mobile phone manufacturers. Therefore, in the next few years, manufacturers' market competition should be on marketing channels. 1. The development history of my country’s mobile phone channel model The development of my country’s mobile phone marketing channel model is closely related to the popularity of mobile phones and market competition. According to the development form of the channel and the differences between mainstream dealers, it can be roughly divided into three stages: 1. China Telecom’s monopoly Mobile phone sales market stage At the beginning of the formation and development of my country's mobile phone market, on the one hand, due to the high price of mobile phones, low penetration rate and users concentrated in cities; on the other hand, because the mobile communication market was monopolized by China Telecom, this period It was a period when it was underwritten by China Telecom. The only places that sell mobile phones are the business halls of China Telecom and some small shops that appeared later. The latter mainly deal in parallel-imported mobile phones. During this period, China Telecom dominated the market, both in terms of distribution and retail. Under China Telecom's underwriting, a true marketing channel system had not yet been formed. 2. National general agent controls the sales channel stage. The background of the changes in mobile phone marketing channels at this stage is that China Telecom has liberalized the sales of mobile phones, and professional mobile phone retail stores have appeared, and they have quickly sprung up on a large scale in first- and second-level cities across the country. At this stage, a complete distribution system was gradually formed, and national general agents controlled the sales channels of mobile phones and became the main force dominating the mobile phone market. 3. The coexistence stage of multiple sales channel models. The changes in the channel model at this stage are due to the rapid development of domestic mobile phone manufacturers. That is, starting from 2002, domestic mobile phone manufacturers entered the market and lacked the support of national general agents. Use provincial distribution systems to break the market monopoly of foreign brands on the national distribution system. As the market share of domestic brands increases, the status of national general agents begins to decline. In addition, another important feature of this stage is the rise of multiple sales models and sales channels, while the number and sales scale of terminal retailers have also experienced significant changes. decrease in magnitude. What is representative of this is that in 2001, professional chain companies of home appliances began to enter the field of mobile phone sales. Home appliance chain companies such as Gome and Suning relied on the historical advantages of cooperation with home appliance manufacturers and began to use the sales of domestic mobile phones as a breakthrough point to enter the field of mobile phone sales. channel penetration. At the same time, some agents began to consider establishing their own brand retail chain stores and building a strong terminal network. The position of operators in sales has been strengthened again, and the hypermarket model has also appeared in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other places. 2. Composition of channel members in my country’s mobile phone market Channel members in my country’s mobile phone market mainly include manufacturers, agents, retailers and operators. 1. Manufacturers According to data released by the Ministry of Information Industry, China's mobile phone manufacturers have grown from 5 in 1997 to 37 in 2002. The mobile phones of manufacturers have changed from "resource" products to ordinary products. Manufacturers have also gradually withdrawn from their original leading position in the industry chain, and are gradually being restrained by channel dealers and operators. In the current situation, with the homogenization of products, rapid price changes, fair channels, and similar promotion in the Chinese mobile phone market, there is an urgent need for all mobile phone manufacturers to correctly understand themselves. In terms of its position in the industrial value chain, we must get rid of the past practice of decoupling from the market and business, and give full play to the collaborative capabilities of the entire mobile phone industry chain. 2. Agents China has a large population, rapid economic development, rapid increase in mobile phone penetration, and rapid expansion of market capacity.

At present, the capacity of China's mobile phone market exceeds 200 million units. Faced with such a huge market, mobile phone manufacturers often do not have the ability or need to deliver mobile phones directly to consumers. Therefore, mobile phone dealers and agents have become necessary. In the late 1990s, with the separation of mobile phones and cards and the influx of a large number of foreign brands of mobile phones into China, national general agents such as China Post Putai, Tianyin, and Fengxing emerged. Mobile phone agents can also be said to be terminal channel providers. Their rise is almost entirely linked to the business of foreign brands in China. In a sense, the national general agent is the sales department of foreign brands in China and also the international Beneficiaries of branded mobile phones. my country's mobile phone distribution system has always followed the three-level distribution system of national general agents, provincial agents, and city and county agents established by Motorola, Nokia, etc. Foreign mobile phone manufacturers have always been partners and main business providers of large agents. As mobile phone manufacturers are increasingly dissatisfied with the traditional hierarchical agency system, the absolute advantages of traditional agents are gradually disappearing. Various forces are intertwined, and conflicts occur from time to time. Various distribution models will exist for a long time to come, but there is no doubt that the hierarchical agency system that once dominated China's mobile phone channels is no longer the mainstream of the market. 3. Retailers Chinese mobile phone retailers include professional retailers, home appliance chain stores, professional chain stores, comprehensive stores (malls, supermarkets), etc. Since 2001, mobile phone sales channels have entered a new historical stage. An important feature of this stage is the rise of multiple sales models and sales channels, and the number and sales scale of retail terminals have dropped significantly. Beginning with Beijing and Shanghai, China's mobile phone market has seen the emergence of professional mobile phone chain retailers with relatively strong scale and financial strength such as Dixintong, Xieheng Telecom, and Zhongfu Telecom. Professional chain companies of home appliances have also begun to enter mobile phone sales. In the field of mobile phone sales, home appliance chain companies such as Gome and Suning began to use the sales of domestic mobile phones as a breakthrough point to penetrate into the mobile phone channel, relying on the historical advantages of cooperation with home appliance manufacturers. At the same time, some agents are beginning to consider establishing their own brand retail chain stores and building a strong terminal network. At the same time, sales channels such as online shopping malls and supermarkets have also begun to gain a certain market share. Sales at traditional retail terminals are declining day by day, and consumers are increasingly concentrating their mobile phone purchases on these chain stores and hypermarkets. 4. Operators In countries with developed mobile communications industries, service providers (i.e., China’s network operators: China Mobile and China Unicom) often firmly control the sales channels of mobile phones, but in China’s mobile phone market, its Retail and distribution are two separate and independent systems. In countries such as the United States and Singapore, network service providers usually purchase mobile phones in large quantities from mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia or Motorola, and then sell the mobile phones and corresponding service supporting systems to consumers themselves. In order to attract users, suppliers often launch deep discounts to lower the price of the mobile phone itself, shifting profits to the information services provided to customers, and making profits through the information fees used by consumers. In China, starting from 2003, the close cooperation between mobile communication operators and mobile phone manufacturers began to gradually develop. The leading position of operators in the mobile phone industry chain is becoming more and more apparent. Mobile phone customization and mobile phone bundling sales have allowed operators to directly intervene in the marketing of mobile phones, and have begun to play a leading role in the functions, prices, and applications of mobile phones. 3. New trends in the channel development of my country’s mobile phone market. As mobile phone sales become more and more like ordinary fast-moving consumer goods, the hypermarket model has become popular in order to gain profits through the advantage of sales volume. In addition, traditional IT distributors have also entered the mobile phone distribution market. Although IT distributors have not yet taken a dominant position in mobile phone sales, their strong channel coverage capabilities have posed a threat to traditional dealers. In the next few years, the mobile phone channel may have the following changing trends: 1. The development trend of channel flattening. The transformation from seller's market to buyer's market gives customers autonomy, and customer goals become the value of corporate transactions. Therefore, modern The core of marketing has also changed from the appeal for product functions to the appeal for customer value. This requires manufacturers to have more direct and faster communication with consumers. However, the decline in product promotion functions of other channel members and the shrinking of distribution profit margins, as well as manufacturers’ higher requirements for channel radiation and control, make channels only change. Got shorter and shorter.

As a sales model, channel flattening simplifies the sales process, shortens sales costs, and allows companies to have larger profit margins. Flattening is not about simply reducing a sales link, but optimizing the original supply chain, eliminating non-value-added links in the supply chain, and transforming the supply chain into a value chain. Because the essence of channel flattening is to cut down on lengthy and useless links, improve the efficiency of channel operations, and build a complete, organic, and efficient network system among manufacturers, merchants, and users, allowing thousands of users to communicate with manufacturers and users through this network. Merchants exchange and interact with information. After mobile phones are transmitted from mobile phone manufacturers to final consumers through channel levels, approximately 15% to 20% of profits are extracted by intermediate channels. Compressing intermediate channels naturally means that manufacturers can obtain more profits. my country's mobile phone market is already in the stage of channel flattening and is continuing. Channels are further flattened to reduce channel costs. Controlling retail terminals has become the fundamental point for the success of mobile phone sales. Therefore, international brand mobile phone manufacturers must make great efforts to promote regional agency systems and reduce channel intermediate links to reduce costs. The intermediate cost of the channel. However, for domestic mobile phone manufacturers, it is important to note that channels cannot be flattened without limit. Things must be reversed, and channels that are too flat will lead to increased channel costs for mobile phone manufacturers. Therefore, manufacturers need to consider the balance between effectiveness and efficiency. . 2. Development trend of channel diversification. Due to the gradual popularization of mobile phone consumption, consumers have begun to diversify (business people, students, rural consumers, etc.), resulting in diversified consumer demands and diversified consumption habits. Some consumers like to go to mobile phone specialty retail stores, some are willing to go to mobile phone supermarket chains, and some may prefer to go to comprehensive electrical appliance hypermarkets, and so on. If you want to cover as many consumers as possible, you must naturally develop diversified sales channels accordingly. The diversified channel model may become mainstream in the future. my country's mobile phone market channels are in the process of being transformed from being dominated by manufacturers and agents to being dominated by retailers and operators. More and more mobile phone manufacturers We will consider how to effectively avoid the risks of various channel models and reduce the profit losses that these channel models may bring. The diversified channel model is an expedient solution in this transitional stage. 3. Centralization of channels. At present, the entire mobile phone industry chain is basically centered on manufacturers, who organize R&D, production and sales. However, as the market power of channel vendors becomes stronger and stronger, they may replace today's manufacturers in the future and become the organizers of the industrial chain. Of course, this requires many conditions. First, the degree of specialization of channel dealers. When market demands become increasingly diverse and consumers become increasingly diversified, whoever understands consumers best will be able to bring more value to consumers and thus become the decisive force in the industry chain. The distance between channel merchants and consumers is the closest, which is its natural advantage. However, the current level of professionalism of channel operators is not enough to fully and timely grasp consumer needs and changes. Second, standardization of R&D and production. Only when R&D and production are standardized can these resources be obtained relatively easily from the market, and channel dealers as "laymen" will not be controlled by others. 4. Operators intervene in mobile phone terminals. In order to ensure the advancement of CDMA, China Unicom had to personally come to the rescue and purchase large quantities of CDMA mobile phones from mobile phone manufacturers through underwriting to supply the market. In order to promote GPRS services, China Mobile also purchased more than one million GPRS mobile phones from Eastcom and Motorola at one time. China Mobile has recently obtained a mobile phone sales license through the regulations of the Ministry of Information Industry and is preparing to officially enter my country's mobile phone channels. As a new force, the addition of operators has intensified competition and complexity in mobile phone channels. If domestic brands want to capture a larger market share from international brands, they must stimulate greater enthusiasm and creativity in channels. 5. The market position of mobile phone hypermarkets has become increasingly prominent. The entry of home appliance chain stores such as Gome and Suning into the mobile phone retail market has brought revolutionary changes to the mobile phone market. Home appliance chain stores have had a fundamental impact on the original mobile phone sales channels. Its advantages such as wide coverage, large purchase volume, and flexible operations are unmatched by traditional mobile phone dealers.

However, mobile phone manufacturers take into account the interests of traditional channels and mostly only let home appliance chain stores sell some models, which temporarily alleviates the conflict. Otherwise, it is likely that the rapidly expanding hypermarket channels will quickly replace the original agents. The new trend of my country's mobile phone channels not only brings new development opportunities to channel members, but is also a challenge. For those channel members who are at a disadvantage, how to improve their own strength and gain competitive advantages in the channel structure will be their continued development. Basics: For those channel members who are currently at an advantage, how to proactively adjust channels, pursue the combination of efficiency and effectiveness, and find their balance point is to enhance their strength and establish their channel status.