Most of you will agree that Vivo smartphones are not that cheap and you can get better options in online markets, however you cannot deny that Vivo smartphones sell a lot and a quite popular in offline markets.

Is Vivo V5 / V5s a Kachra Phone?

I had done the review of Vivo V5 and if you check that review even though the handset is powered by MediaTek processor, it can play high end games with ease, overall performance is good, battery life is pretty good and camera quality is above average, plus selfie shots turns out really great.

Now how can you call that a Kachra Phone, may be those who have never used it, never seen it, never got a chance to hold it will say so. Well price is definitely on the higher side, I have mentioned that in my review too.

And some people will still say, handset is pricey hence kachra phone, what kind of a logic is that! the Vivo V5 and V5s is not a kachra phone but yes it is pricey, so you say it is a costly phone, a pricey phone and since the phone can do what most other phones including high end phones can do how can it be Kachra, just cause of price?

Vivo is not a kachra phone and why it sells in offline market

People with little bit of common sense, will understand, people without sense will complain and even say this is a paid review – hey, again they did not use common sense cause this is not a review, see now such people will get a little smarter, and they can thank me cause they will now start using their brains finally.

Question is why am I posting this now, well after Kejriwal lost in Delhi, finally some hope, that’s why! Trying to enlighten people!

Next question why does Vivo Sell in Offline markets and why is the handset so popular in that segment

You might have seen many videos where they say Vivo gives higher margins to shopkeepers / mobile phone sellers and hence they push Vivo products, well that’s common sense (again).  That is true to some extent but that is not the main reason (oops think hard!).

There is one more thing I need to tell, some say that shopkeepers force customers to buy? why would they do that, they may push Vivo products first but ultimately the customer is free to choose what they want, right.

Now coming back to the point Vivo gives higher margin to shopkeepers.

No shopkeeper will sell handset even if they get higher margin if the product is bad and if the after sales is bad. So you are now getting the point.

The first thing is the handset quality / look, well Vivo quality is indeed very good. You cannot deny that, even OPPO quality is very good. It is not like Micromax / lava / other low cost handsets that you might have seen.

So look wise the customer will not have an issue, not really that hard convincing via the look (remember offline customers have been for long served other brands they have in most cases not seen Redmi / OnePlus etc), 2nd thing is the price. Well yes price is on the higher side. But you need to understand that offline customers make up their mind before buying a phone, they want to buy something.

Redmi phones are better but they are hardly available in online market so how do you expect them to be available in offline markets.

Coming to Vivo as I said looks, performance, camera quality, battery is very good so customers has no issue as such, but price is still high. So there is something that convinces the offline customer.

If you have not got that yet, let me tell you, it is the after sales service. Yes ever wonder why so many customers never buy online even when they can, it is cause of after sales support.

A shopkeeper / Mobile phone seller is there to do business, they have their margins, they will never sell smartphones that offer bad after sales. Why? because the shopkeeper wants their customer to be happy with what they buy and they want the customer to come back again, the next time they want to buy a new handset. For the buyer the shopkeeper is the trust point, and for shopkeeper the brand is.

The Indian Offline Mobile market – its different!

If you remember when Gionee entered the markets – when micromax, karbonn, spice, lava and other smartphones were selling, and I remember having talked with some of the shopkeepers they were really not happy with after sales of older brands.

Then Gionee entered and everyone were excited, Gionee offered good / higher margins but eventually lost when it came to after sales. This is where Vivo played really well. Not only are majority of customers happy about after sales but even the shopkeepers are happy for two reasons – they get good margins and they know Vivo will take good care of after sales or any issues that the customer might face.

Hence Vivo sells. I was really surprised when I recommended  Redmi phones to two of my neighbours and they failed to get it online and eventually visited local store and got Vivo phones, and the best part is they happy about it.

Some Shopkeepers are so confident with Vivo after sales services that they are offering customers option to drop their handset in case of issues at their shop, the shopkeeper will then send to Vivo service center and collect, then the customer can collect from their shop.

The offline customers are more interested in after sales  and service. Price is not an issue in most cases. Plus most of these customers have experienced other brand services, they know, they remember and are now are very happy with Vivo.

After sales support most important in offline segment

If you recall Micromax launched the dual 5 and it is available in offline market as well as online market. The price is on the higher side, but if you look at the after sales that Micromax is providing you will know.

They are offering 24 hours service promise, complimentary pick and drop and 1 year replacement warranty on hardware defect. So you see this is the strategy that works in offline markets. Offline market users are looking for after sales, that is their first priority. I am not sure how Micromax will do with Dual 5 even after offering really good after sales support promise, cause many users have already experienced Micromax service before. But I guess you guys now know why Vivo Sells.

So the next time someone says Vivo is kachra phone tell them that as per canalys survey here are the best selling brands listed below – ranking wise.

  1. Samsung
  2. Xiaomi
  3. Vivo
  4. Lenovo
  5. Oppo

No points in guessing that Xiaomi is purely for online segment, and Vivo is 3rd (mostly offline).

A technically sound person will say Vivo V5 / Vivo V5s is a good phone but pricey, and Techno Puppu’s will say it is a Kachra phone.  Plus the users who have now started using the Kachra phone word most likely have never shopped offline – and what do you think,  such people will buy when they visit an offline Mobile store, well nothing, cause the stuffs they are looking for is only available online, but they have problem with offline customers buying what is available offline, uh.

Your Say.

By Rajeev Rana

Founder and Chief Editor - gogi.in