Program & Batch: PGDM 2019-21

Term: SECOND
Course Name: MARKETING MANAGEMENT II
Name of the faculty: Mr. Elkana Ezekiel
Topic/ Title : Marketing Management 2 Project
Brand: One Plus
Product Category: Smart Phone
Group Number: 3

Group Members: Sl. Roll No. Name

1 B.Sai Ram Susheel
190103044

2 Sangh Vijay
190103190

3 Naman Gupta
190102035

TOPIC: ONE PLUS 7 Pro

For this project we have selected Brand as ONE PLUS and the product category is Smart
Phone.
INTRODUCTION

OnePlus is a Shenzhen-based Chinese smartphone manufacturer founded by Pete Lau (CEO)

and Carl Pei in December 2013. The company's main goal was to design a smartphone that
would balance high-end quality with a lower price than other phones in its class, believing
that users would "Never Settle" for the lower-quality devices produced by other companies.
Lau explained that "we will never be different just for the sake of being different. Everything
done has to improve the actual user experience in day-to-day use."

The smart phone industry is a high growth industry with 23% CAGR in India with One Plus
being one of the top contenders to capture the premium segment along with Samsung,
Apple & Google. India is the second largest market globally for smartphone after China. In
2018, 161 million smartphones worth over $28.5 billion were sold in India growing both
sales volume and value by 19% and 21% respectively. This was when the global smartphone
industry was seeing a downtrend in sales, highlighting the potential of Indian smartphone
market to the companies round the world.

The major players along with their products in premium smartphone category are:

 Apple 11 series by Apple

 S series and Note series by Samsung
 Pixel 4 series by Google

Organization culture:

It all started in the winter of 2013 with a simple, bold idea: make a better phone. But, not just
a better phone – a better way of doing things. A new kind of tech-company that works hand
in hand with users to do something amazing, something meaningful.

• Gathering exceptional talent from all over the world with various backgrounds,
beliefs, and perspectives, but sharing one common dream: change things for the better
and leave a mark on the world.

• Pursuing the highest standards professionally, personally, and ethically. Empowered

by a bold mind set, while creating products that transcend geography, customs and
cultures.

• Striving for improvement and aim to provide the best value to users. For the
remaining introspective, looking to improve ourselves before demanding or criticizing
others.

• Dreamers who always reach for the most ambitious goals.

• Enthusiasts who love what they do.

Most importantly, Never Settle at OnePlus.

 PRODUCT MIX (PRODUCT PORTFOLIO) OF ONEPLUS

 Mid-range smartphones
1. One Plus 6
2. One plus 6T
3. One plus 7
4. One plus 7T
 Premium range smartphones
1. One Plus 7 Pro
2. One plus 7T Pro
3. One plus 6T McLaren Edition
4. One plus 7T Pro McLaren edition
 Accessories
1. One Plus Bullets wireless
2. One plus Type-C Bullets
3. One plus Explorer Backpack
 Smart TV
1. One Plus Q1
2. One Plus Q1 Pro

Competitor analysis of One Plus 7 Pro

One Plus 7 Pro Samsung S10+ Apple iPhone 11 Google Pixel 4

 Snapdragon  Snapdragon  Snapdragon 855

855 chipset 855 chipset  Apple A13
chipset
 128 GB  128 GB Bionic chipset
 64 GB storage
Storage storage  64GB storage
 3700 Mah
 4000 Mah  4100Mah  3110 Mah
battery’
Battery Battery battery
Product  16MP+12.2MP
 48MP+16M  12MP+12M  12MP+12MP
Camera setup
Specification P+8MP P+16MP camera setup
 6.3 Inches
camera camera  6.1 inches
Display
setup setup display
 6 GB Ram
 6.67 inch  6.4 inches  4 GB Ram
display display
 6GB Ram  8 GB Ram
 Rs. 57,900
Price Rs. 48,999 Rs. 69,990 Rs. 64,900

Placement Premium Premium Premium Premium

For S10+, Samsung Apple ran an ad Google leveraged their

launched a campaign highlighting new product with a
One Plus brought worldwide their lightning fast promotional video
in international campaign with the Face recognition and showing new tech
movie star Robert title ‘iChanged’. an all-day battery life.
coming to next-
Downey Jr. to The campaign They also claimed thatgeneration Pixel. This
promote its 7 series aimed to showcase they have a better tech enables two new
around the globe the beauty of water resistance for features – Motion Sense
via you tube and breaking away and face unlock –
their device that their
television ads. One from what people competitors. helping you to get things
plus also roped in think ‘you should done without having to
Amitabh Bachchan do’ and embrace Along with the ad touch it.
Promotion specifically to cater one’s true self by campaign they also
to the Indian pushing the gave discounts up to
consumers. For boundaries and Rs. 19,000 when
social media, one doing what you buying the phone with
plus brought in think you can’t. a HDFC card.
various tech
influencers from As part of its
you tube, twitter promotional
and Instagram to strategy Samsung
promote the gave away Galaxy
product airbuds, worth Rs.
8,999 as a gift to
the buyers.

PRODUCT LIFECYCLE ANALYSIS – ONE PLUS 7 PRO

This is the recent phone from One plus after having launched One Plus 6 and One plus 5
series. Increase number of unique features, set it apart from the previous versions is
that it has beautiful rounded edges, also fluid AMOLED display which is first time
launched by one plus for its products and pop-up selfie camera which stood out from
other premium competitors. Another feature that makes a huge difference is the
camera which has the ultra wide angle option which stands out from the competitor at
that time. An extra layer of texturing is another element that gives the 7 Pro more of a
premium feel than previous model. Not forgetting to mention, the 7 Pro has “TEST THE
DROP PROTECTION” where the pop-up selfie camera closes automatically in when the
phone fells down which is a technological breakthrough and a clear point of difference.
 With all these features, the phone took off well in the market, leaving behind the older
version of One plus 6 series and 5 series. Till now One Plus series phones were priced in
the 30k-38k range but for the first time one plus went beyond 40k range and it was
priced at 48k , but still it made good sales and created demand in the market and proved
to be a sensible alternative for those who were willing to spend the same amount, but
on competitors’ product. This is an introduction phase of the phone and it is expected to
go upwards from here.

Gradually as the promotion campaigns hit and more customers become aware of the
product, its innovative features and its price point, the product entered its growth
phase. As customers realize that a brand name such as OnePlus, whom customers trust
blindly for its software’s and camera, launched a product with innovative features and
isn’t that hard on the pocket, sales picked up. The product also turned into a mini DSLR,
because of the dual camera which is given i.e 48MP Sony lens and the wide angle
camera and also an pop up selfie camera and hence the sales even grew more, and is
expected to grow even more.

So after this stage, as the maturity stage arrived , the OnePlus invested heavily in
continuous research and development and introduced innovative features for the
upcoming phones like OnePlus 7T pro where it gave an triple camera option as well as
added a pop up camera that enabled the users to have a larger screen. This marked the
beginning of the maturity phase of the product, owing to some improved features by the
new products.

As newer and better products in this segment make their entry into the market, One
Plus may reduce the prices of this product to extract as much margin as possible and this
will essentially be the decline phase of the product.

PRODUCT LAUNCHES

One Plus 6 & 6T

Both One plus 6 and 6T was the company’s first attempt to hop on the ‘Notch’ bandwagon.
The ‘Notch’ as a trend was started by Apple to maximize the screen to boddy ratio of a
phone. One plus launched OnePlus 6 with a notch similar to Apple while OnePlus 6T was
launched with an even smaller drop like notch. These products were launched with the latest
technology available at the time. They both had the latest version of android and the fastest
processor available in the market. The T version has the legacy of coming out six months
after the base model has been launched, updating the device on whatever new hardware and
software has come up in those six months. The main aim of these products was to keep up
with the competitors such as Samsung and apple as it has become an industry norm to release
an updated model of your flagship product in each category every year.

One Plus 7:
One plus 7 was another strategic launch by the company to maintain their USP as a mid-
range premium smartphone while they were lining up a higher price variant of this product
with some key differentiations. This product didn’t differ much in looks compared to 6T. The
upgrade was in terms of camera, software and processor.

One Plus 7Pro:

One Plus 7Pro was launched together with Oneplus 7 but with a wildly different form factor.
It had a pop-up camera for the front facing camera. This technology has only been tested by
other Chinese company such as Vivo and Oppo. The direct competitors of One Plus were still
relying on the notch design. This was the first time that the form factor was a key
differentiator for a one plus product. Samsung had its Note series to produce innovative
designs and Apple was the first to launch a notch design. This was done by One plus to reel
in the customers who liked the pop-up camera but didn’t trust the en-masse brands. To make
the offering more attractive One Plus also installed a 90Hz refresh rate screen on this phone,
when the industry norm has been 60Hz. It enhanced the viewing experience of the consumers
by a big margin. This move actually kickstarted the trend to provide a 90Hz screen on
premium phones. All of his was offered at a price point of Rs 48,000 which was a big leap
from the incremental increase they had to their price over the years.

SERVICES OFFERED BY THE BRAND

 One Plus service center

 One Plus Care
 One Plus software updates
 One Plus online troubleshooting

Here, the service centers and and online troubleshooting is a industry standard. Currently
One Plus has 62 service centers across the country. The number is a bit less that Samsung
but is far more that Apple who opened up its store in India quite recently. With only about
two products releasing every year compared to Samsung which has 5 different series of
phones, the number of service centers One plus has is on par.

One plus care and One plus updates are the differentiating factors for the company. One
plus care provides one year extra warranty for the device at a price of Rs. 600. Also in this
scheme, you can get a battery replacement for half the price. This program also offers a
minimum value for your older one Plus phones if you trade them for newer ones.
One Plus has also been the leader in software updates where they provide android updates
for two years and security updates for there years. For reference, Apple and Samsung
provide updates for a maximum of 18 months as it is written in their terms and conditions.

MARKETING STRATEGY

Online

One Plus has utilized the following tools to market their products online
1. Invite only: In the beginning when the company set their mind to provide the
the best of what a smartphone has to offer at a very low price, it decided to
cut its advertising cost. The alternative the company found was to make the
sale of their product invite only. Only a previous owner of the product can
invite someone else to buy its product. In time, this created a buzz around
the product because ultimately the product was of high quality. The company
has since then stopped utilizing this method but this is considered a key
factor in the company’s initial success. No other direct competitor has
applied this method to market their products in the past.
2. Influencer marketing: One plus has sponsored various youtube and Instagram
celebrities and influencers to produce their content and plug in their brand
during in the content. One example of this is One Plus sponsoring a youtuber
named ‘PowerBang’ who creates online gaming content. OnePlus provides
the latest device to him to play on so that his viewers can see the
performance of the device first hand. This creates a sense of trust among the
potential consumers. Also, they provide their products to tech reviewers on
social media to give their honest reviews. Influencer marketing has become a
norm of the industry and all of the competitors of OnePlus has picked up on
it in some form or other.
3. Social media campaign: Oneplus’s “#NeverSettle” has been an ongoing
campaign for OnePlus to remind its consumers to never settle for less for the
price they are paying. This channel is also common among smartphones
manufacturers although one plus is the only one to consistently keep the
same message for the last six years.

Offline
1. TV advertisements: OnePlus has famously rolled in high profile movie stars
such as Robert Downey Jr. and Amitabh Bachchan to advertise their product.
2. Pop up stores: OnePlus realized that many people in the Indian market like to
touch and experience the device before purchasing it. To cater to this need,
OnePlus set up several pop-up stores in a number of malls and on the high-
streets in metro cities. They even entered a partnership with Croma, allowing
users to experience the product first-hand.

Pricing Strategy

Pricing of OnePlus has always excited the lower priced segment to focus on the premium
space, demand for which has jumped in the last couple of years. One Plus also looked at
increasing local production gradually, keeping pace with its forecast that India’s
manufacturing scale could reach global levels in around 5 years. One Plus has built its brand
equity on the promise to provide premium product for low price. As of right now Its top
product is around 30 to 40 percent cheaper than that of its competitors. As for one plus 7
pro, even though its price was about Rs. 13,000 extra than its predecessor, it actually
became the fastest selling premium phone on Amazon in the first seven days. This shows
that the increase in price didn’t have an ill effect on the sales. Although, it has to be noted
that One plus & pro was providing something innovative for that price point.

An increase in price for the next base product ( for example OnePlus 7 this year) they
launch is to be expected but only by 10% to 15% as has been the norm for the company for
the last six years. Sharper rise than this will alienate the loyalist as it can be seen as moving
away from their promise to never settle. Although products such as One plus 7 Pro which
brought in something that added immense value to the offering can have a slightly steeper
price. As per this year’s sales, it can be safely deducted that users are willing to pay a
premium for a premium offering.

Oneplus as of now can afford to decrease its price but only If their bottomline allows for it.
This is because they are marketed as a cheap premium phone. Although If they are already
providing the lowest price possible and decreasing price might mean to decrease the quality
of the phone then the company cannot afford to do this. As they only have two to three
launches per year, any hit in sales can affect their profit margins to a large extent.

Channel Strategy
OnePlus expects e-commerce to remain its biggest sales channel in India over the
next five years, a top executive said, even as the firm announced plans to open more
offline stores. The Chinese premium smartphone maker mainly uses two online
platforms to sell in the country. These are its own website and Amazon India, which
is currently its biggest sales channel.
Although the smartphone maker has an online-first approach, its Bengaluru store,
which opened a year-and-a-half ago, has exceeded all expectations, the firm said.
That success has given it enough reason to expand its offline footprint.
OnePlus India plans to have four offline experience centers and 10 authorized stores
in total by the year end. It has one experience center in Bengaluru. The second
experience center will be opened in Chennai, while the company is considering Delhi,
Pune, Hyderabad and Mumbai as options for the other two this year. The firm also
plans to strengthen its third sales channel in India—Croma stores. OnePlus started
selling its phones at Tata group’s electronics retail chain Croma last year. That
decision was a strategic shift in the phone maker’s strategy, which until then had
been almost solely focused on e-commerce through Amazon. It now wants to create
dedicated OnePlus sections in all large-format Croma stores.
The Shenzen-based company, which wants to make India its second headquarters,
also plans to set up a research and development center in India later this year, which
will focus on customizing OnePlus’ products for Indian conditions and consumer
requirements.