Zen Mobiles To Trim Its Number Of Models

In a bid to target specific consumer segment and increasing sales, Zen Mobiles, one of the top Indian handset makers will reduce the number of models it offers by a third to 16 in the next 6 months. Not only this, the company is also reorganizing its business model and limiting its inventory to 15 days as against the normal industry standards of up to 60 days. Zen is among the top 10 handset makers in India and of late it has cut down the number of models from 40 to 60 and in the coming months it will trim 4 to 5 models. Deepesh Gupta, MD of Zen Mobiles said that the company is developing long term plans which reduce the choice for consumers but give them more features in the rest of the models.

The move undertaken by Zen Mobiles is quite surprising considering the fact that smaller players in the handset market try to come out with maximum models to lure consumers. At the same time consumer looks forward to more models to have a wide variety of choice. Meanwhile Zen Mobiles will continue to focus on the lower market segment hovering between Rs 1000 and Rs 3000, bulk of whose sales come from small towns. Mr Gupta further added that that as of now the company will limit its presence in the mid-end and high-end category.

The strategy of Zen is opposite to its rival firms such Olive Mobiles and LG which have decided to focus on the high end segment. Experts believe that the strategy of Zen can be because of the weak valuation of Rupee as against dollar which has forced companies to raise prices as imports have become costlier. It is to be noted that most of the handset maker depend on other countries for spare parts, after sales service network and R&D.