This week it was revealed that Xiaomi has overtaken Samsung as the top smartphone vendor in China. Karen Connell, founder of The SMALLmighty, looks at the implications on China and the global smartphone market.
When it comes to smart phone usage, no other country comes close. The Chinese are absolutely wedded to the small screens, so much so that three-fifths of money spent on mobile ads around the globe comes from China, most of it aimed at the Asian market. (Source: AppFlood)
China isn’t just a market for mobile, it’s estimated that the Chinese will spend $87 billion (Source: Strategy Analytics) on phone sales in 2014, nearly 30% higher than the US. Unlike the financial markets where the world caught a cold when America sneezed, it means when China’s phone rings, the whole world needs to check their pockets.
China is not a market to be complacent in. The Chinese are not easy targets, they are not grateful for an international brand’s presence nor are they waiting with bated breath for that brand to bring out the new model. They wont just buy anything because it has an international brand attached. They are a culture unto themselves: precise, obsessed with performance and are early adopters of anything new.
Xiaomi hasn’t taken the lead because it’s Chinese, it’s beaten Samsung because it’s a great phone, priced affordably, and effectively built a fan base who do the talking. This has been incredibly effective against a backdrop of international brands trying desperately to appear Chinese but are still effectively shoe-horning the big global campaign into people’s lives. And it’s this insight that I think is the secret to Xiaomi’s success, they’re not talking big. There is no contrived concept, no carefully constructed USP and no one big orgasmic message. Xiaomi got big because they thought small and used the collective genius of a few (million) users to inform everything they do. From organising events for people to meet and debate product features with the engineers to on-line forums and the Wechat platform for their customer service, Xiaomi is uniquely personal and therefore uniquely desirable.”
Karen Connell is founder of The SMALLmighty Ltd a boutique consultancy helping traditional mass-marketing lead businesses understand and develop new processes that will connect their brands with today’s more influential and connected consumer. She currently works with a number of the world’s top global brands, including Shell, Coca-Cola, GSK, Cadbury and Diageo, and was formerly marketing director for Virgin.
