Pacific Citifone Deals Pvt Ltd is a Mumbai-based Distributor of Xiaomi Mi brand mobile phones. They have a branch office in Ahmedabad, besides their Head Office in Mumbai. The company is managed by a group of highly qualified and experienced professionals. Pacific Citifone has its own transportation facility to deliver to key locations in all major cities in India through a well-established dealer network. The company has its own well-equipped warehouse to stock and supply goods on time.
Viren Lohana, Director of Pacific Citiphone, comments, “Currently we are distributing the mobile phones of Mi brand, which is a powerful brand in the 5k to 15k segment. The latest trend in the mobiles market is the demand for smartphones in the range of Rs 5000 to 15000 is very high and it is growing rapidly. This has become a mass market segment and today most smartphone brands are competing in this segment and the competition is expected to increase further in the coming years. Today, brands are offering superior features at affordable prices in this segment. The demand for mobile accessories is also growing correspondingly with the growth and sales of smartphones. Our focus for the coming year is to increase our penetration further in the market and offer best products to the customers at affordable prices.”
To stay in the market, face competition and make their own space, each company maintains its own Unique Selling Propositions (USPs). Talking about their USPs and the challenges in the market, Viren Lohana comments, “We have been in the distribution trade for the last 23 years and our core strengths are good penetration into the market backed by strong relations with partners, good distribution infrastructure and well-managed finances. The major challenges at present are shrinking margins due to increasing competition and then the increasing infrastructure costs. With many brands competing with one another, service has become very important factor for the brands and distributors to survive and grow. We keep special focus on giving top class service to the end users. To add strength to our operations, we try to ensure that our deliveries are made promptly and we maintain transparent accounting practices through our dedicated accounting team. We have the right kind of infrastructure to keep our operations up to the mark. The smartphone industry is currently changing rapidly and price wars have become intense as every brand wants to offer something new at better (lower) price to customers.”
During the last few years, online distribution has emerged as a big challenge to the offline partners. Commenting on the offline vs online competition, Viren Lohana, states, “The online market places have been surely affecting the offline trade, but after the new regime of rules have been imposed by the government, the offline sales are improving and now the customers have started coming back to the offline.”
Regarding their business growth and GST, Viren Lohana reveals, “Pacific Citifone has been growing at an annual rate of 50% from the last 3 years and we are aiming to maintain this rate in the coming years. GST has not affected our trade much in terms of business volumes.”
Talking about mobile associations, Viren Lohana shares, “The mobile associations are playing a great role in resolving the issues of mobile business community by negotiating with different brands, vendors and government organizations. In the coming years, we foresee more active role of mobile associations in resolving the issues of those into trade of mobile phones.”