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In full corona times, OPPO launched its first device in Belgium. Together with Dirk Pauwels, Managing Director of OPPO Belgium, we look back on an entry that may not have gone as planned, but was nevertheless successful.
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The Belgian smartphone market has had a new player since spring: OPPO. OPPO has been one of the largest players in its home market of China for many years, and the company is also becoming an established name internationally. The company now hopes to achieve this objective in Belgium in the short term. OPPO does this by already unpacking a few premium smartphones in its first months. At the start there was already the Find X2 Pro, and on October 1, OPPO gave a second calling card with the launch of the Reno4 Series.
Yet it was a special entry for OPPO in our country. The Chinese brand arrived at a time when smartphones could only be bought online. How does OPPO Belgium look back on its first months? We talked about it with Managing Director Dirk Pauwels.
OPPO entered the Belgian market in March with the Find X2 Pro. Did it attest to the ambition that OPPO wants to radiate to immediately unpack with a premium smartphone?
Dirk Pauwels (Managing Director OPPO Belgium): That was actually more of a coincidence. We started in March with a select range of three devices. In addition to the Find X2 Pro, these were also the OPPO A5 and the Reno2. Which devices we can offer is the result of a validation process. But we were of course very satisfied that we could immediately come to the market with a flagship smartphone.
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Strong local anchoring was chosen: a new head office was established in Brussels and strategic partnerships were concluded with Proximus, among others. Why is that so important?
I would just like to add that our collaboration with Proximus (for the support of 5G) is not exclusive. We even started marketing our devices through Orange in Belgium earlier. Meanwhile, we have a partnership with all major telecom operators in the country. Retailers are just as important to correctly position our devices and OPPO would like to develop an intensive collaboration with all major retailers in Belgium. Today you can already find our range at Vanden Borre, Fnac, MediaMarkt, Krëfel …
This local anchoring is crucial in OPPO’s strategy. It allows us to create a local marketing plan and create a unique portfolio for each market. For the time being, we are doing this with a small team from our new head office in Brussels. Introducing yourself into a new market is much more than taking the product from the factory to the store. By working locally you can expand your network. That is why local autonomy is so important.
How does OPPO try to establish itself as a new player in the market?
By developing strategic partnerships and a local network. Collaboration with telecom operators is very important, but building partnerships with retailers is just as important. Every partnership is crucial to us.
At the store level, we also try to actively involve retailers in the communication to the end customer. This has become more challenging due to the COVID19 pandemic, but that is precisely the advantage of working locally. A strong local network makes that communication faster and more efficient. An online platform that was built in collaboration with Krëfel is a good example of this.
Thanks to these partnerships, the devices are ‘5G-ready’. Why should you, as a smartphone manufacturer, be fully committed to this new technology, which is still experiencing a difficult global rollout and currently offers no real added value to consumers?
I think that is a very valid question. In Asia and China the penetration of new 5G networks is going a lot faster than in Europe. We can therefore build on that experience in validation for models intended for the European market. The introduction of 5G is a complex process, in which many factors and parties play a role. First, the network must be ready, and telecom operators must also actively push it to users. Our role is to commercialize 5G support.
This is a very difficult story in Belgium. The development of the active network is proceeding very slowly, which means that the operators are not yet able to actively deploy it. Why are we already bringing devices with 5G support on the market here? That’s more to get ahead. By offering the support now, we can let consumers enjoy the added value of 5G as soon as the network is in place.
Are consumers prepared to pay an additional price from now on for a technology that they cannot use?
We believe that there is also a change in mentality among consumers in this area. When purchasing a new smartphone, they take into account whether the device is sufficiently ‘future-proof’. If they buy a smartphone this year that will no longer be technologically viable next year, they will have to make an expensive investment twice. Operators can also convince consumers of the added value that 5G support offers.
It is true that 5G devices are expensive at the moment, but that will certainly not stay that way. Both our 5G portfolio and that of competing brands will eventually grow to more democratic prices. The technology is perfectly adaptable for cheaper smartphone models, which we are already seeing happening, by the way. I expect that trend will start to continue faster.
OPPO wants to profile itself as an innovator in the smartphone landscape. How do we see that reflected in OPPO’s products?
Above all, we want to be an innovator in technologies that benefit the customer. An important point for us is charging technology. Within this, we have set a groundbreaking standard with the fast charging technology SuperVOOC 2.0. Handy for the consumer, because nobody likes to have an empty battery.
In addition, we also invest heavily in screen technology. The Find X2 Pro was our first model with a refresh rate of 120Hz. The color range of our devices is also of top notch quality. In doing so, we are responding to the changing smartphone use by consumers, which is increasingly growing towards multimedia use (streaming video content, gaming, etc.).
Finally, there is 5G. In itself this is no longer a proposition, but this new network technology makes new applications possible. In that story, you should see 5G as an innovation that reinforces other innovations. Consumers simply get used to new things quickly and expect to see them again.
Does that innovative nature explain why OPPO was able to work up quickly?
Innovation is one of the core issues. Anyone who does not innovate cannot bring value or make a difference in the smartphone market that is very aggressive. But it is more than just innovation. You also need to build your brand. This is done on the basis of international and national partnerships. The brand should not be an end goal in itself, but it is a means to facilitate communication to the customer.
The smartphone industry is struggling as a result of the corona pandemic. Does OPPO feel the effects of this too? If so, how does OPPO deal with this?
On a global scale, we are still doing very well. This is largely due to the Asian market, which has recovered relatively quickly. OPPO’s global strategy has therefore remained virtually unchanged.
Due to the corona pandemic, the introduction to the Belgian market has of course been more difficult than we had initially hoped. But in less than six months, we managed to negotiate business deals with many important operators and retailers, both physical and online retailers. As a result, we have already achieved good market coverage to start. I am proud that we managed to achieve this in a short time with a small team. The next step is to achieve commercial success, where more aggressive pricing of our devices will be important to take that step.
OPPO is in the top 5 smartphone manufacturers today. What are OPPO’s long-term ambitions in the smartphone market? For example, does OPPO ever want to be able to set foot next to Samsung?
I’m actually not in a position to make any statements about this, and that doesn’t fit OPPO’s corporate culture. We want to express ourselves differently from most other smartphone manufacturers, for whom commercial success is a primary goal. That is of course important, but we also attach great importance to local validation and testing.
The smartphone market is of course a very competitive one. To play, you have to be able to capitalize your brand and products, so you have to be big enough. But becoming the largest or second largest player in the market in x number of years is not a goal for us.
Do the international problems facing Huawei offer opportunities for OPPO to expand its position in the market?
I actually get that question quite a lot (Pauwels active at Huawei Belgium from 2014 to 2018, ed.). But we do disconnect OPPO’s story from Huawei or other events in the market as much as possible. But we are nevertheless seeing an interesting shift in the European smartphone market. In the past, only a few players were relevant there, but the market has become a lot more competitive due to smaller brands, such as OPPO, who entered the market and challenged the big players.
The smartphone market may not really grow for several years, but it has become much more dynamic. I see that as a positive thing for consumers, because they now have a lot more choice.
Recently OPPO introduced the Reno 4 series in Belgium. Do we see the core values of OPPO in this device?
Yes, certainly on a technological level. The smartphone supports 65W fast charging and the screen experience is very pleasant with a refresh rate of 90Hz. With the OPPO Reno4 Series we want to offer a device that offers a pleasant experience and experience all along the line. Therefore the thin and light design. That means that the smartphone fits well in the hand, but due to the finish, the edition with the blue color is certainly resistant to fingerprints.
What can we expect from OPPO next year?
This year we mainly wanted to lay the foundation. The focus was on opening channels and expanding a complete product portfolio. We want to expand further in 2021. Not only will our team grow, but so will the range. We also want to look at product categories that we want to add to our local ecosystem. Think of IoT applications. In addition, we will also set up new communication campaigns to further promote the OPPO brand.
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