BEIJING, Sept. 26 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- CCID Consulting, China's leading research, consulting and IT outsourcing service provider, and the first Chinese consulting firm listed in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Stock Exchange: HK08235), recently released its article on China's mobile phone channels in 2008H1.
In 2008H1, China's mobile phone channel market kept its development trend in convergence and innovation. CCID Consulting's data shows that distribution agents, direct supply and carriers' customization are China's mobile phones three major sales channels. Affected by market demands and industrial market policy, mobile phone channel partners actively adapt to market changes.
CCID Consulting considers that China's mobile phone channel market has the following four characteristics in 2008H1:
Three Channel Modes Form Tripartite Confrontation, Retail Grows Rapidly
In 2008H1, the sales volume of China's mobile phones reached 82.951 millions sets. Distribution, direct supply and carrier modes are the major sales modes. CCID Consulting's data shows that these three channels form a tripartite confrontation. Direct supply has the rapidest growth, up 0.6% year-on-year.
Figure 1: Structure of China's Mobile Phone Channel Market in 2008H1
http://www.ccidconsulting.com/upload/13827.jpg
Source: CCID Consulting, July 2008
On the other hand, in various mobile phone retail modes, the retail chain has the rapidest development. In 2008H1, the share of retail chain shops reached 54.4%, up 17% year-on-year. Retail operation's brand and scale effect, modern logistics, information flow and business flow management ability bring low costs, high efficiency and consumers' high cognition so as to establish its major retailers' position. Mobile phone chain stores and appliance malls acquire large scale development through resource integration. Mobile phone manufacturers' channel modes' flat reform, especially direct supply's mass adoption, further strengthen mobile phone chain stores' and appliance stores' product line advantage and price advantages.
Channels Have Obvious Flat Trends, Distributors Have Diversified Services
Flat and diversified channels change the operation mode that distributors are manufacturers' single agents; distributors could play several roles in the channel market. Based on former foundation, distributors expand manufacturers' direct supply platform, FD platform and carrier platform. Compared with mobile phone distributors, products need to adopt diversified management modes so as to improve market penetration. According to their own characteristics and market changes, distributors need to adopt adaptive modes.
In 2008, part of a distributors business expanded to downstream retail channels. Enterprises actively extended their own retail stores. Also, Guangzhou Postal Mobile continued to increase its retail scale through its subsidiary company CentreYou, with Shenzhen Telling Telecom increasing its brands’ chain scale. Faced with new market demands, based on their strengths and channel advantages, distributors are actively participating in product management, price management, retailing, marketing and after-sales services. Channel partners are transforming to distributing comprehensive service providers.
Chain Direct Supply Grows Rapidly, Market's Concentration Improves
In 2008, based on their own sales network and with the market chain directly supplying retailers' penetration ability, their market share will gradually increase.
Competition in the mobile phone market is heating up. There is also competition in retailers. Competition drives the acquisition and reorganization of retailers, which also drives enterprises to develop brand management so as to lead mobile phone channels to develop to centralization. Chain direct supply retail enterprises gradually centralize; some small-scale mobile phone retail stores will be gradually integrated. Chain direct supply retailers acquire large-scale development opportunities through resource convergence; mobile phone manufacturers strengthen cooperation with large-scale chain direct supply retailers. When retail stores such as GOME and SUNING cooperate with manufacturers, their stores' numbers will increase rapidly so as to speed up mobile phone retail's large-scale process.
Chain direct supply retailers' large-scale development will sort out the terminal retail market's messy status. Channel resources' convergence and strategy adjustments becomes the key of channels' large-scale development. Retailers with strong brand advantages will acquire better upstream resources in the aspects of brand, management, logistics and capital.
Carriers Have Great Potential, 3G Becomes Breakthrough Point
Carriers mainly operate in the talking business era; the production and sale of mobile phones currently does little to attract carriers' attentions, and there is no economic interests to drive carriers to set foot in the mobile phones sales field. In recent years, in order to contest new users, detain old users, promote data services and 3G development, carriers actively developed customized services for mobile phones' and carriers are playing a more and more influential role in the industrial chain. With customized services' deepening, demands' increase and 3G licenses' released, carriers' whole network competition is inevitable.
Because of the ambiguous 3G policy, carriers' modes' share in channels don't have obvious growth. With 3G market enlargement, carriers will present their services in terminal customized products. The carriers' position in channels will be improved. Carriers will improve their abilities in operations, management and R&D.
About CCID Consulting
CCID Consulting Co., Ltd. (hereinafter known as CCID Consulting), the first Chinese consulting firm listed in the Growth Enterprise Market of the Stock Exchange (GEM) of Hong Kong (stock code: 8235.HK), is directly affiliated with China Center for Information Industry Development (hereinafter known as CCID Group). Headquartered in Beijing, CCID Consulting has so far set up branch offices in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Chengdu, with over 300 professional consultants after many years of development. The company's business scope has covered over 200 large and medium-sized cities in China.
Based on major areas of competitiveness: industrial resources, information technology and data channels, CCID Consulting provides customers with public policy establishment, industry competitiveness upgrading, development strategy and planning, marketing strategy and research, HR management, IT programming and management. CCID Consulting's customers range from industrial users in electronics, telecommunications, energy, finance, automobile, to government departments at all levels and diversified industrial parks. CCID Consulting commits itself to becoming the No. 1 advisor for enterprise management, the No. 1 consultancy for government decisions and the No. 1 brand for informatization consulting.
For more information, please contact:
Cynthia Liu
Coordinating Manager
CCID Consulting Co., Ltd.
Tel: +86-10-8855-9080
Email: liuyan@ccidconsulting.com
