vivo goes to the sea, the three roads are urgent

In the VIVO factory in the Nuida Industrial Zone, India, the pinyin "Benfen" of the Chinese word "duty" was printed on the elevator. When the blue elevator door was closed, the white English writing body would be displayed in the center of the center. Essence

It is not translated into English or Indian, but chooses to use pinyin. In this way, whether it is Chinese employees or Indian employees, they can use the same pronunciation to say "duty".

Vivo tries to convey its own values ​​in this way and integrate it into the local area across cultural differences.

However, Vivo, who has been working in India for many years, has recently been searched by the Indian government's anti -money laundering institutions to searches as many as 40 offices and frozen 119 bank accounts.

Although the subsequent vivo sought thawing from the Higher Court of India, the condition was to provide banks with 9.5 billion Indian rupees (about 801 million yuan) to guarantee the bank and retain a 2.5 billion rupee balance in the account.

In fact, it is not only in India. In recent years, vivo has not been good in the layout of the entire globalization. The European and American markets fell into a deadlock that could not be attacked for a long time after investing in a big hand. When peers rushing to use Vietnam as a key springboard, vivo was still watching.

Vivo went to the sea and seemed to enter the bottleneck period.

"Chicken ribs" India

The first slogan of vivo went out to sea was "more local, more global", which was deeply localized: the factory was built in the local area. But it is this "more local" approach that has made it more difficult to leave India today.

In 2014, the founder Shen Wei personally led a lot of domestic agents to inspect India. The purpose of this trip was very clear, that is, to land on the Indian market.

India's land area is vast, and the first -level administrative areas include 27 states, 6 federal territories, and 1 capital jurisdiction. Each time the agents are in India, they are compared with the domestic regions they are responsible for their agency. Any similar points are classified as the area where they are expanding in India.

The following year, Vivo began to build factories in India, leading dealers to lay out stores, and served local consumers with localized thinking, localized cultural integration, localized management, and localized management. Relying on the ultimate localized play and cost -effective products, in just 3 years, Vivo has become the top three regular customers in the Indian smartphone market.

However, in the era of globalization, it is easy to land, and it often means to take root.

Unlike Xiaomi's light mode in cooperating with other companies in India, Vivo's factories built in India are equivalent to domestic factories. According to the data, Vivo is more than 20 hectares (the first Indian factory) in Domhida. The factory has fully achieved localized production and even printed circuit boards and other components. The investment scale reaches 3 billion rupees.

India's "Economic Times" reported that Vivo plans to invest more than 40 billion rupees (about RMB 3.9 billion) in the country in the second stage of the "Made in India" project, including the establishment of a new factory. Through this investment, Vivo's smartphone production base in India will be close to the size of its two factories in China, and vivo will also become one of the most invested mobile phone brands in India, which is comparable to South Korea's Samsung Electronics.

In addition to the huge investment in the supply chain, Vivo's handwriting on the construction channel also far exceeds Xiaomi equivalent. It is reported that Xiaomi's sales in India mainly depend on online sales on FLIPKART and Amazon, while vivo rely more on offline channels. According to incomplete statistics, as of 2020, Vivo has about 70,000 stores in India. 90%of the company's sales are realized through offline channels.

In addition, vivo also smashed its money for brand building. In 2015, the 180 million IPL cricket league invited Indian national treasure -level star Amir Han to endorsement and so on.

"Honor's investment in the Indian market is still in the early stage, and the withdrawal will not have much impact on the current business. In contrast, Vivo's funds in India are much more than other manufacturers. It is not cost -effective to withdraw from India because of environmental changes. "An industry insider deeply cultivated overseas markets said.

In fact, Vivo cannot leave India, in addition to the huge investment in this layer of factors, it also has a certain relationship with the current instability of the Indian market. According to Canalys data, in the first quarter of 2022, Xiaomi, Samsung, and Realme ranked the top three in the Indian smartphone market, and vivo ranked fourth with a weak gap.

At present, the Indian market is still in a high -speed development stage. After the end of the epidemic, there is a high probability that it will usher in the outbreak again. Whether it is vivo or other manufacturers, leaving India before that, which is equivalent to the active market for many years to friends. This sounds like a "prisoner's dilemma", but it does reflect the embarrassing situation of vivo's "tail" in India.

It should be noted that in addition to India's "assassination", vivo globalization also faces problems that cannot be attacked for a long time.

European and American micro -style

3C products are easy to sell in the Indian and African markets, but it is not a complete internationalization. Only after obtaining recognition in Europe and the United States will it be eligible to talk about the global market.

However, unlike underdeveloped areas, the European and American markets have accumulated deeply in the field of technology and consumer electronics. Local users have strong consumption power, and they are more discerning to mobile phone brands and quality. Chinese mobile phone manufacturers are more difficult to establish brand image and trust. When Vivo entered Europe, he adopted the method of sponsoring sports events. In 2017, he signed the official sponsors of the two -year World Cup with FIFA in 2017; in 2020, he won the two global official partners of the European Cup. Commercial super can also see vivo's overwhelming advertisements.

Sports is a common language of all human beings, and it is also a very good path for establishing brands, especially in Europe and the United States. Earlier, Samsung opened the way for sports marketing when Samsung entered Europe. It sponsored the International Equestrian Super League and invested 100 million US dollars to sponsor the many years of Premier League.

In an interview with the "Guangming Daily" in 2007, the president of Samsung Electronics European Corporation said that with the purpose of sponsoring sports to achieve marketing, it means high investment. In Samsung's view, this high investment can bring high returns. The fact is the same. Through years of working Samsung, Samsung has become a well -deserved "number one player" in the European and American markets.

In contrast, vivo has invested for many years without setting off too much water. Counterpoint released the European Smart Mobile Market share report in 2021 that although vivo increased by 207%year -on -year in 2021, the overall market share has not exceeded 1%.

The reason is that on the one hand, vivo is backward in channels, and on the other hand, it is the lack of product power.

Another important difference between the European and American markets and the Chinese market is channels. The operator channels are still strong here, which may account for half of the overall sales of mobile phones. Before vivo entered, Samsung, Xiaomi and even Apple had already reached long -term cooperation with strong operators and dealers in European countries.

"In Western Europe, dealers and operators are very strong. If they cannot get them well, they will be difficult to touch consumers in large scale." Analyst Jia Mo, an analyst at market research agency Canalys, said.

The important indicator of European and American operators to measure mobile phone brands is NPS (net recommendation value), and the NPS value represents users' satisfaction with mobile phones. At present, the international mainstream rating agencies have not yet made public rating of vivo, but you can refer to the domestic brand NPS score released by CHNBRAND. The data shows that vivo is only 8.5 points, ranking 6th.

Compared with the European and American markets, aside from Apple and Samsung, even Xiaomi and OPPO are deeper than vivo, and the corresponding scores will be higher. For operators and dealers, one is a brand that has been able to stabilize shipments for many years, and the other is a new brand that is still in the market stage, which is obvious to match the high -quality resources to who.

The backwardness and deficiencies on the channel are also related to the Vivo itself. The operating method of the operator is to obtain gross profit by signing a contract with the user and recommending a series of follow -up services for users. This is a slow process, and naturally also requires the ability of mobile phone brands to make products.

Prior to 2018, Vivo always focused on low -end cost -effective mobile phones. Until the NEX flagship series was late, it became a stepping stepping stalls for Vivo to enter the high -end market.

However, vivo NEX has been applauding. In March this year, the NEX series and the business department were revoked, and the X series served as the flagship heavy responsibility. Soon after, the new category of X Fold folding screen mobile phone was launched.

It is just that in addition to Apple, mobile phone manufacturers in the world ’s mobile phone TOP5 have already gathered folding screen tracks. Vivo has been selling the first folding screen products for Samsung and Huawei for more than three years.

"The European market characteristics are extremely obvious. There are no innovative products. It is difficult to shake the relationship between other brands and operators and dealers in a short period of time. Essence

The gentleman does not stand under the wall, on the one hand, it can neither tear his face with India nor the slaughter of others; on the other hand, a large -scale investment in Europe and the United States can make great uncertainty if you can make results, so for vivo to come to vivo Speaking of partial production chains to Vietnam, or helpless choice.

Grasp Vietnam?

For most mobile phone manufacturers, whether it is to radiate East Asia or open up the European market, Vietnam has gradually become the destination of the industrial chain transfer in recent years.

During the financial crisis in 2008, Samsung President Li Jianxi visited Vietnam with his successor Li Zaiyu, held a meeting in the local area, discussed the future layout, and finally decided to move the mobile assembly business to Vietnam. In this way, a $ 670 million mobile phone manufacturer rises. So far, Samsung has invested more than 17.3 billion US dollars in Vietnam, and half of its mobile phones in the world comes from here.

In addition to Samsung, Apple also brought the production line to Vietnam with important foundries and suppliers. In 2021, 23 suppliers have established more than 30 factories here. In addition, Xiaomi, who has just been punished by India this year, also recently announced $ 80 million to enter Vietnam to build a production base.

The purpose of these giants in Vietnam is also very clear -reducing costs and comfortable living. Because of the lower cost of building factories in India, because of fierce competition and unreasonable geopation, for major manufacturers, especially Chinese manufacturers, the Indian market is full of uncertainty. Therefore, the industrial chain to the Vietnam -centered Southeast Asian market is a general trend. It is worth mentioning that although Samsung, OPPO, and vivo have occupied the top three seats in the Southeast Asian market all year round, after Xiaomi enters the Vietnamese market in depth, it may have a certain impact on the pattern of the Southeast Asian market.

The chairman of a consumer electronics industry chain company said, "The establishment of a factory in Vietnam is different from other Southeast Asian countries, because whether Samsung or Xiaomi, the ultimate goal of the Vietnamese factories is not only to radiate the Southeast Asian market, but aim at the European and American markets. It is the convenience of Vietnam to Europe and the United States. "It is reported that before the trade agreement reached between Vietnam and the European Union and the United States, the highest tariffs can be reduced by 99%.

Therefore, for vivo, in addition to stabilizing the Southeast Asian market in the Vietnamese factories, it can also disperse the risks in the Indian market, and to a certain extent, it can reduce its cost in the European and American markets.

However, it should be noted that as the giants have increased Vietnam, their demographic dividend has gradually faded, and Vietnam's human cost advantage is no longer obvious, and even the situation of grabbing has occurred.

In March of this year, Goel Co., Ltd. had invested in two projects in North Ning and Yi'an Province, Vietnam, after obtaining 700 million US dollars in the International Financial Corporation (IFC). It is expected to increase a total of 70,000 employees after the expansion.

In June, Foxconn Vietnam also continued to expand recruitment and recruited about 10,000 workers locally. Liu Yangwei, who was at the helm, also publicly shouted: "Where these factories saw Foxconn's factories, they went to the factory area to buy a piece of land. They wanted to carry a ride in this way, and quickly entered the market by relying on high -paying Foxconn talents."

According to Yang Shucheng, Secretary -General of the Vietnamese Chinese Mobile Phone Enterprise Association, since this year, the average salary of workers in ordinary mobile phone production lines in Vietnam has risen to RMB 3,500, which is only about 30%cheaper than domestic production line workers, and even far exceeding India. Essence

The dividend in the Vietnamese market is gradually disappearing, but for mobile phone manufacturers such as vivo, its importance in the globalization layout is gradually revealed. From the perspective of "new knowledge of technology", if vivo cannot cultivate the industrial chain of the Vietnamese market as soon as possible, its global cost will only get higher and higher, the difficulty is getting bigger, and even the entire banner may have variables.

In general, Vivo's "assassination" in India is just the beginning. How to pry open the gates of the European and American markets and how to keep the center of Southeast Asia are all problems that need to be faced in the future. Bitter days have just begun.

@创

Author 丨 Editor Wang Siyuan 丨 Yi Page

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