October was a rewarding month for the domestic smartphone marketplace as not only did vendors sell a record 22 million handsets, but also shipments hit a higher of 21 million units, mentioned IDC India. It warned having said that that November and December will be lean due to the cyclical dip.
Smartphone shipments rose 42% year on year in October driven by various on the web festival sales and continuing pent-up demand from Q3 2020. The shipment figure of 21 million units was the highest ever for October and the second highest for a month, following 23 million units have been shipped in September 2020 — an all-time higher for a single month.
IDC India associate analysis manager (client devices) Upasana Joshi mentioned when 140 million smartphones have been sold in India in 2019, IDC expects 2020 to exit with a single-digit decline in final sales to customers.
“Though the first half of Q4 2020 will witness high sales owing to festivities, the second half will be lean with a cyclical dip as inventory cycles normalise and stocks get replenished. With the smartphone market still concentrated around the leading 50-70 cities of India, the industry must address the untapped potential in lower tier cities with affordable entry-level offerings to offset the large feature phone base and ensure steady year-over-year organic growth in upcoming years,” she mentioned.
According to IDC’s India month-to-month city-level smartphone tracker, which tracks sell-out units (final sale to customers) for 50 major cities and the rest of states, a record 22 million smartphones have been sold in October, registering a powerful 38% year-on-year development driven by customer purchases in the pre-Diwali month.
“Twenty-five per cent of the market sat in top tier cities, namely New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata, registering more than 50% year-on-year growth in October. E-learning initiatives fuelled demand in bigger cities,” IDC mentioned.
The subsequent set of emerging markets — Jaipur, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Bhopal and Coimbatore — also grew by about 50% year on year. However, the rest of states (up-nation markets) registered slower development (typical about 25%), mostly owing to looming financial issues and customer spending narrowing to essentials only, it mentioned.
The major 50 cities accounted for about 55% demand nationally. The remainder is in the subsequent set of evolving towns and cities, with massive untapped prospective in the up-nation geographies (function telephone-heavy markets).
Despite delayed deliveries due to restrictions in a number of zones, on the web purchases, particularly on third celebration e-tailer platforms, registered 23% year-on-year development with a 50% share. Bigger cities leaned heavily towards on the web channels, with 57% on the web share in the best 5 metros. But provide constraints remained, impacting offline channel sales as a outcome of fewer retail stroll-ins.