Festive season comes early to smartphone showrooms

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₹22,000 ($265) as of mid-2024, up from ₹13,000 ($170) in mid-2020, building a $38 billion Indian smartphone market in 2023. This year, with further shipment growth and a marginal uptick in ASPs, the Indian smartphone market is tipped to cross $40 billion in gross revenue. “Every deal and discount that e-commerce platforms offer are usually introduced in physical stores as well, although certain offers from brands may vary across retailers.

There is price parity in the market, and since buyers are no longer walking in to make discretionary smartphone purchases, it is crucial for brands to extend offers in order to clear inventories," said Manish Khatri, partner at Mumbai-based multi-brand retailer Mahesh Telecom. Smartphone shipments in the March quarter rose by over 11% to 34 million units, as per IDC data publishedlastmonth. The availability of such deals will be key to the recovery of the smartphone market.

Smartphone shipments in the March quarter rose 5% from a year earlier to 32.5-35 million units, data gathered from four industry analysts showed. “There is a decline in consumer sentiment, but we are seeing buyers come in more often and not wait until the festive season in order to upgrade their smartphones. This is pushing brands to extend various offers and schemes beyond the core festive season, where the uptick in sales is more evident in categories such as home appliances," Gupta of Vijay Sales said.

Navkendar Singh, associate vice-president at market research firm International Data Corp. (IDC) India, added, “The June quarter is typically one of the weakest periods for the smartphone market, since buyers generally put off their purchases until the pre-festive and festive sales begin later this year. Going