Many industrialists think penetrating into the African market can sometime be a pain in the ass, but the truth be told, if you understand the Continent, one can penetrate and make so much. If you think Africa is poor, you have already lost the battle! In Africa, there are over 327,145,889 people who have access to internet as of the third quarter of 2015.

In all, the Continent is almost reaching one billion in mobile subscriptions. Affordable smartphones are contributing significantly in bringing more people online across the continent. It is projected that by 2019, feature phones will only account for 27% of Africa’s mobile handset market, as the market for smartphones fueled by handsets priced under $100 per unit continues to grow. Read on...


http://techafrikico.com/2015/11/24/how-infinix-could-become-the-xiaomi-of-africa/

Mtchewwwww..

All these bloggers and their hunger for traffic.

Rubbish.

How Infinix Mobility Is Gradually Becoming The Xiaomi Of Africa


Many industrialists think penetrating into the African market can sometime be a pain in the ass, but the truth be told, if you understand the Continent, one can penetrate and make so much. If you think Africa is poor, you have already lost the battle! In Africa, there are over 327,145,889 people who have access to internet as of the third quarter of 2015.

In all, the Continent is almost reaching one billion in mobile subscriptions. Affordable smartphones are contributing significantly in bringing more people online across the continent. It is projected that by 2019, feature phones will only account for 27% of Africa’s mobile handset market, as the market for smartphones fueled by handsets priced under $100 per unit continues to grow.

Adults who own a cell phone, Africa
A recent report by global technology consulting firm, International Data Corporation (IDC), predicts smartphone shipments will top 155 million units by the end of 2015 in the Middle East and Africa–after increasing by 66% during the first quarter of 2015. In the first quarter (Q1) of 2015, smartphones comprised 47 percent of Africa’s market sales, while the market share of feature phones decreased by about 20 percent.

Annual mobile-phone shipments in Africa

Some of the major players in making these numbers possible are brands such as Samsung, Apple, Nokia, Microsoft, Tecno, rLG, Infinix, Innjoo among other Chinese brands.

Aside the well known brands like the above mentioned, most of the Chinese phones are battling among themselves to find a spot in Africa and so far Tecno, Infinix and Innjoo seem to be on the right path, but one has to be crowned the king and its not easy to judge now looking at their presence on the Continent.

On the other hand, Infinix seem to be doing pretty well with its Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and its constant support to its consumers through an online community made up of users of Infinix products who share ideas, provide solutions and periodic updates for their devices just like the culture cultivated by Xiaomi and OnePlus.

The success behind these two brands are because of the community of enthusiasts who love to use their devices and also share information on how to do various things on the devices. This is exactly what Infinix is learning from. Infinix is popularly known in Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana among other African countries.

Infinix Mobility is the company behind the well known smartphones on the African market lately, such as the Infinix Note, Infinix Hot among others. The company is well known in the manufacturing of smartphones and Joypads (Cheap Android tablets).

The company was set up in 2009 in Hong Kong, with retail and distribution centres sprawling between France and Korea and manufacturing centres in China, Infinix has only taken a few years to become a known mobile phone manufacturer in the smartphones and tablets market.
157,860 units of the Infinix HOT 2 Sold In Nigeria!

The Infinix smartphones are in series including: Alpha, Race, Surf, Diamond, and Zero series. Konga.com and Jumia have been major partners distrubuting Infinix phones in most African countries through their online shops.

The company sold over 157,860 units of HOT 2 in Nigeria alone from which 70% of the sales were driven by Ecommerce by escaping the cost of physical distribution networks. While 30% are achieved through traditional channel including operators’ retail stores.
Infinix Stormed The Market With 2 Series of Phones

Although Infinix is still in its early stage when it comes to the manufacturing of cutting edge devices, unlike its competitors; the company has managed to somehow win the heart of consumers with two series of their flagship devices, the ZERO and HOT series.

Though the HOT series are mid-range, they are mostly focused on consumers who need something great, but at the sametime attractive in price. While the ZERO series offers higher ends devices with impressive specs and perfomance, targeting the developing African middle class.

In terms of pricing, Infinix is somewhat adopting the marketing strategy of Xiaomi by manufacturing mid-range devices at a reasonable price tags. In Ghana for instance, the Infinix HOT 2 is priced at GHC 327 on Jumia. The device provides a reasonable, but not too impressed specs which the company had to sacrifice to balance the pricing. The Infinix Hot 2 comes in two variants, a 2GB Ram model and a 1GB.

Aside pricing and design, the company is committed to pushing periodic updates to its consumers. Both devices runs on Android Lollipop 5.1.The company has promised an Android Marshmallow 6.0 before the end of the year.

Just like Xiaomi’s custom UI (MIUI), Infinix mobility has also developed its own User Interface (XUI): better design, faster screen responsiveness and energy efficiency.
The Bridge Between Infinix Mobility and the E-Commerce Industry

In an effort to get its devices to consumers, Infinix main channel of distribution has been through retailers and e-commerce stores across Africa. Infinix device comes pre-installed with its partners e-commerce mobile apps such as Jumia.com and Konga.com. Mobile applications are popular ways to experiment online shopping. This is done in an effort to connect to consumers on the Go, especially the youth.

Bruno Li Infinix Mobility country manager stated: “Youths are always connected looking for the latest trends. Using the right channel is the key of success, the demand is online.”


Building a Community Through Forums and Social Media



Benjamin Jiang said: “We talk to our fans as they are our close friends. Infinix fans are much more than users, they are our main concern. The most important thing for us is to understand what consumers need, to provide smartphones that fit their needs”.

The success of Infinix Mobility in Africa is built around the feedbacks of their end users. This is a culture cultivated through the loyalty of fans on their forum. Users are welcome to share their suggestions about products through a loyalty program. Sometimes suggestions can be transferred to market facing product improvements. This clearly shows that the company is earning the trust of its fans.


“How Infinix became the No.1 Online smartphone brand in Africa?” Bruno Li country Manager said: “My answer is customer’s participation. Infinix is not only selling devices, but the desire for its fans to build and be part of High-tech improvement”


What are your thoughts? We would like to hear what you think of the brand compared to other manufactures in the industry like Tecno Innjoo and the rest.

lol... laughable... xiaomi of africa kor, they trying but it doesnt come near to the control Tecno has established on the market

Good to know, Infinix always aiming for the top.

Comparing light and darkness is disastrous.

Youngzedd:
Comparing light and darkness is disastrous.

funny but true sha