OPPO sets Bt800m for marketing, eyes No 2

“We are quite confident that we will attain a No 2 market share this year. We will launch around 10 models into the Thai market with an Bt800-million marketing budget, the same as last year,” said Chanon Jirayukul, sales director of OPPO Thailand.
Yesterday, the company launched two new mobile-phone models, OPPO R9s and R9s Plus, under a plan to increase market share and to upgrade its image as a premium brand. The devices target medium- to high-end consumers. 
OPPO entered Thailand eight years ago. In 2009 Thailand became the company’s first market outside China as it collaborated with a Thai firm. 
Chanon said OPPO expected to see 76-per-cent sales growth this year, the same as the growth in 2015.
Last year, total sales of mobile handsets in Thailand (both feature phones and smartphones) reached 14.9 million units, down from 16 million in 2015. Smartphone sales totalled 13.3 million units, up from 12.7 million in 2015.
OPPO was ranked No 3 in market share in Thailand in 2016, while Korean company Samsung was No 1 and the Advanced Info Service house brand Lava No 2. 
In 2015, OPPO secured 7 per cent of the total mobile-handset market here. 
Globally in 2016, according to International Data Corporation, an international research firm, Samsung ranked No 1 with a market share of 21.2 per cent, followed by Apple’s iPhone with 14.6 per cent, China’s Huawei at 9.5 per cent and OPPO at 6.8 per cent. 
In 2016, OPPO’s global sales were 99.4 million units worldwide, a 132.9-per-cent increase from the previous year.