Virgin Mobile

Retail strategy for entering the Indian Handset market

An Update
On 1st March 2008, Virgin Mobile has entered the Indian Market, tying up with Tata Tele-services.

Virgin is primarily an MVNO company, and retail distribution is only a part of the overall strategy.

However, it is a very important piece.

Even for an MVNO like Virgin, having a finely crafted retail strategy can mean the difference between a strong subscriber uptake rate or a mediocre showing among the target audience.

Agenda
Virgin Mobile - Company Brief The Indian Opportunity Competition and Positioning The Indian Consumer VMs Entry Strategy Review

Analysis and Recommendations

Virgin Mobile
The Company

Global Reach

Virgin Mobile Charter

To add a personal touch to our customer experience: the little extras. As a customer, theres nothing more frustrating than dealing with a faceless bureaucracy or a member of staff who tows the party line. A little something extra can really go a long way to improve a their experience and their opinion of Virgin. E.g. A Virgin Trains manager took all the placemats from First class and folded them into fans for the passengers caught in an unpleasantly hot carriage when the air-conditioning failed.

Virgin Mobile Charter

Speak from the heart, not a script. Talk to people the way they prefer to be talked to with warmth and humanity. When Virgin Money sends people letters about their financial services they recognise its the customers money, not theirs. They dont write in jargon but as one human being to another

To offer an experience thats 100% human, treating customers with respect.

Organizational Mission
Keep it simple

Do what you say

Take the leap of faith

Keep on checking

Stay true to your values

Love the locals

Virgins New Venture Strategy

When we start a new venture, we base it on hard research and analysis. Typically, we review the industry and put ourselves in the customer's shoes to see what could make it better. We ask fundamental questions: Is this an opportunity for restructuring a

market and creating competitive advantage? What are the

competitors doing? Is the customer confused or badly served? Is this an opportunity for building the Virgin brand? Can we add value? Will it interact with our other businesses? Is there an appropriate trade-off between risk and reward?

The Indian Opportunity

Market Size, Structure and Segments for Handset Retail

Mobile Retail - The Numbers

New Connections per month = 60,00,000

Handset Retail = 3,50,00,00,00,000

Airtime

Accessories

Handset

7,50,00,00,00,000

The Demographics

50%

What Virgin Needs To Know

No Bundling - Handsets sold directly so far, not by operators. This works in the favor of retailers, though it has begun to change.

7-9 Models added every month.

Replacement sales account for as much as 60%.

People are replacing handsets every 18-24 months

Organized Retail
There are 95000 retail outlets in all

Only 1% of these are organized retailers

By Sales, organized retail has a share of

7%

The Future - Growth Rates

Handset retail market has been growing at a CAGR of 60%

Overall, the Mobile retail market is growing at 20%

According to Gartner figures for Sep 07, India recorded the fastest growth in mobile handset sales

The Future - Volumes

Retail Size (Rs. Crore)

600 500 400 300 200 100 0

04 05 06 07 08 09 10 20

Subscribers Handsets

20

20

20

20

20

Year

20

The Potential - Handset Retail

Handset Retail Growth
Retail Size (Rs. Crore)

100000 80000 60000 40000 20000 0

04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Organized Unorganized

20

20

20

20

20

20

Year

20

The Future - Trends

Saturation in the urban market

Rural India will drive growth, accounting for 3538% of total handset market.

Aggressive promotions to get more common

Low priced handsets and handset bundle offers.

PEST Politico-Legal Environment

Politically stable country. However, there are

certain parties with vested interests that act as bottlenecks. FDI allowed upto 24% for foreign players w.e.f.

April, 2008
Availability of cheap as well as professional labour Weak consumer protection laws Increasing recognition of the potential in the retail space by the government.

PEST - Economic Environment

7-9% growth rate; mobile retail growing at 20%. Credit Sales have started, and Cell Phones are being sold on EMI. The Monetary policy aims to contain inflation close to

5.0% in 2007-08 while conditioning expectations in

the range of 4.0-4.5%. Indirect taxes like service tax on immovable property adds to the costs. The retailers want to move the service tax on rent, telephone, etc to sales tax. Consumer confidence in the organized retail format is high and encouraging.

PEST - Social Environment

21.5 crore people between the ages of 14 25 years Demographics - A lot of demand is coming from Rural India, as as much as half of the newly added subscriber are from rural areas. Growing middle class and youth with an increasing propensity to save. Changing attitude- live for today

PEST - Technological Environment

The mobile sector has grown more than tenfold from 2001 to around 6 crore subscribers by mid2005.

10% of the ISPs have 90% of the subscribers

The countrys mobile market stands at Rs. 35,000 crores and is growing at an annual rate of 60%.

Porters Five Forces

Th re at from Ne w Entrants: High Rising cost of retail real estate makes nationwide competition difficult, but numerous national and foreign players are interested to enter Competitiv Rivalry: e Mode rate Margins are thin at mere 4%. Pressure from Second hand sales makes it worse.

New Entrants

Supplier Power

Competitive Rivalry

Buyer Power

Supplier Power: Mode rate Supplier s have strong brands and often have a presence in retail themselves Network Operators are able to push cheaper brands (e.g. Reliance Classic)

Buyer Power: Buyers Demanding greater variety at lower prices

Threat of Substitution

Th re at of Substitu tion: Second hand phone market and unorganized retail is strong. Most demand is from rural areas where organized retailers don t have a presence.

Porters Five Forces

Threat from New Entrants: High

Rising cost of retail real estate makes nationwide competition difficult, but numerous national and foreign players are interested to enter

Porters Five Forces

Competitive Rivalry: Moderate

Margins are thin at mere 4%. Pressure from Second hand sales makes it worse.

Buyer Power: High

Buyers Demanding greater variety at lower prices

Porters Five Forces

Supplier Power: Moderate

Suppliers have strong brands and often

have a presence in retail themselves

Network

Operators

are

able

to

push

cheaper brands (e.g. Reliance Classic)

Porters Five Forces

Threat of Substitution: High

Second

hand

phone

market

and

unorganized retail is strong.

Most demand is from rural areas where organized retailers dont have a presence.

Competitive Landscape
Players, Positioning and Strength

Existing Players

Nokia Samsung Sony World ConvergeM (Future Group)

Mobile Store (JV between Essar and Virgin)

MobileNxt Univercell Hotspot (Spice Telecom) RPG Cellucom Subhiksha M Bazaar

Nokia
Around 50% market share in Indian mobile market Focus on Mother Brand than on Another

Brand
Addressed all five needs REAPS of Indian Consumer

Strong focus on distribution network

Reduced their prices to counter the grey market

Mobile Store
Essar Group venture - entered Jan 2007 Target Segment - 18 to 45 years Eyeing 10% market share, 2500 stores, 600 cities, and breakeven by 2010 Plans to invest 1250 cr by 2010 3 Formats - large medium and compact, in 20:60:20 ratio

Against Franchising - dilutes brand value

Positioning Map

Consumer Need Analysis

Segments, Buyer Behavior and Gaps

Consumer Segments
Pioneer Youth
I want everything from my mobile and I want it now To stay ahead of the game you need the best tools

Careerist

Mainstream Youth

My phone means I belong amongst my peers

New experiences, new possessions, new technologies thats what I want

Experiencers

In-touch Organizers

My life is a juggling act my mobile keeps me connected

Ill adopt new technologies if you show me a good reason

Family Phoners

Mainstream Materialists
I want a phone that makes me look good - even when I cant afford it Ill carry a mobile if I need to

Basic Phoners

The Indian CellPhone Buyer

Replace handsets every 18-24 months High demand from upgraders Price Sensitive - bulk of demand from sub 5000 price range VAS such as Texting very popular among Urban, Young customers

The Opportunity
Urban youth: Distinct mobile needs

More and longer out-bound voice calls Large calling circles for both making and receiving calls

Large users of SMS

Both the earliest adopters and highest users of valueadded services Higher usage for both voice and SMS at weekends

Urban Youth: More Than Just A Segment

India has 21.5 crore people between the ages of 14 25 years old. Incremental urban youth subscribers between 2008 and 2010 will be more than 5 crores.

Urban youth mobile service revenues > Rs. 35,000

crores by 2010 Mobile as a badge of self-expression: brand and

style very important

Indian Market Entry Strategy

Target Segment, Positioning and Objectives

Virgin India Strategy

Target Segment - Urban Youth Sales Objectives Revenues of Rs. 35000 Crores by 2011 (including connections, handsets and accessories) Image Objectives Establish the brand name Market Share Objectives 10% of the market in 3 years

Positioning - Seeking Youngistan

Mainstream Youth and Materialists 14-25 years Young executives / students / Youthful Adults

Virgin India Strategy - Differentiation

Win a 10% share of the urban youth market by Delivering imaginative solutions that offer Value for money & flexible tariffs that reflect their unique needs Innovative, game-changing value-added services

Great handsets at great prices

Personalized customer care

Virgin India Strategy - Cost

Whilst achieving a low operating cost per customer

through
Sharp focus on Indias top youth markets Fewer, stable propositions with low support and

service costs
Imaginative, eye-catching advertising & PR that gets youth talking A lean, enthusiastic team supported by simple processes

Differentiation Strategy Customer Care

Taking the hassle out of buying a cell phone Try before you buy Real conversations: no scripts End-to-end ownership of problems: same Champ call-back Champ empowerment: authorized to resolve issues on the spot Welcome calls: all customers are personally welcomed to Virgin Mobile A real returns policy

Returns Policy
q. Lost my charger, battery fell off and someone threw my phonegasp! a. Tension nahin leneka. Whatever your problem you can walk into any service center and get replacements for

faulty* items in your pack. Heres a list of our service

center . *conditions apply. But dont get scared about it.

Differentiation Strategy
Value for Money and Flexible Service Offerings

Differentiation Strategy - First Time In India

Get paid to receive calls

50 paise to any local network

TGI the weekend Bolt-on One Touch access to V-Bytes

Unlimited access to V-Bytes for a simple daily charge

100% colour, 100% FM handsets Easy Handset upgrades Personalised Care Safe Secrets

Virgin India Strategy Promotions

Think Hatke Campaign 10 paise every minutes on incoming

Virgin India Strategy - Location And Ownership

You have to be in front of the right people. Howard Handler CMO, Virgin Mobile

Virgin India Strategy - Location

Shop in Shop and Kiosks Non exclusive, extensive coverage, lower costs

The one commonality all of the retailers

share is they are places where teens shop, because that's Virgin's core market.

A Virgin Kiosk

Virgin India Strategy Expansion Plans

To begin with, Virgin Mobile services were

launched in 50 cities with 15,000 handsets &

40,000 top-up outlets. Also, with 55 Virgin Mobile kiosks & Shop-in-Shops. Plan to expand to 1000 cities by 2008-end Aims to acquire 50 lakh subscribers over the next 3 years, by when it would be profitable. By the end of 2008, when the new GSM players start rolling out their services, Virgin Mobile aims to offer similar services on GSM as well.

Virgin Mobile
Analysis and Recommendations

South African Experience

Virgin entered as a 50-50 partnership with Cell C,

H1, 2006 Classified itself as an ESP, since MVNOs are illegal in SA Premium Pricing, supported by a strong brand, superior customer service and pricing plan

simplicity

Singapore Experience
Entered through a tie-up with SingTel Exited the market - citing premium pricing and crowded market

Customers placed more premium on Price

SingTel tariffs too high texting too

expensive

Strategic Choices for Mobile Retailers

High

Volume

Low Cost StrategyViable

Not sustainable

Low Cost StrategyUnviable

Premium PositioningViable

Low

Price

High

Positioning Virgin
OFFER SIMILAR ACROSS RETAILERS EXPECTED

ASSORTMENT

CONSUMER
PRICE COMPETIVENESS

MORE EVOLVED

SHORT LIVED

BRAND ENGAGEMENT CAN BE THE ONLY DIFFERENTIATOR

.one of the most exciting brands in the world

200 companies worldwide, employing 48 500 people, an annual Virgin Group turnover of 10.8bn/US$20.4bn

SWOT
Opportunities
India a growth story - 20-30% CAGR, volumes. highest handset sales

Threats
Rising Retail Costs Unclear Government Policy on MVNO

Organized Retail mere 7% by

revenue, 1% by outlets. Most entrants are new, few

Falling Handset prices - lower

margins Saturation - Mobile penetration in excess of 40%.

established competitors

SWOT

Strengths
Strong Global Brand Limited overlap with Tatas existing customers Very low fixed costs as it leases Network Time Not tied to a particular

Weaknesses
Dependent on Partners for pricing, capacity Non serious image may not go

well with conservative Indian

consumer. Limited understanding of India Market

Technology

Capitalizing On Strengths

Into retailing + service provider If the GoI allows MVNOs then after tying up with GSM players, can beat Reliance

Good brand recall

Structured pricing of airtime serves as a loyalty incentive, encouraging active use

Making Weaknesses Irrelevant

People not familiar with the MVNO concept Tata Teleservices does not have a good brand image

Confusion in the minds of consumer about

the Virgin-Tata deal- a re-branding exercise by Tata Teleservices?

Recommendations
Key advantage over other (non-operator) retailers - presence in both retailing and airtime

Key advantage over operators - not tied to

technology (as an MVNO)

Recommendations
Forge deal with a GSM player Offer bundled plans - subsidize handset costs with Airtime

Offer for both CDMA and GSM - greater

assortment Offer plans for 2 years, with upgrade options

Recommendations
VM is moving in the right direction but time is still not ripe for a big bang entry into handset retailing

Need to see the response to Airtime and expand in other cities

Continue tie-ups with existing Mobile retailers like Univercell, Hotspot, M Bazaar, M Port, Vishal, etc.

Thank You !!