India is the world’s second-largest smartphone market after China. Smartphones indeed have become an inseparable part of our lives. From helping us to choose the right match for a weekend date, to bringing groceries to our doorsteps every morning, smartphones have become the butler we never had. Almost every week a new smartphone is ready to launch in India. The total number of smartphone users has grown to 330 million in the country. With such a huge influx of smartphones, people are bound to upgrade to phone for better specs, design and better value for money. Hence we are introduced to a faster upgrade cycle of 12 months.
As the sales rise, the resale of smart- phones also becomes almost indispensable. In turn, the resold devices are just as sought-after as the brand-new models since users can upgrade at a price point that suits them. The total Refurbished smartphone market was approx. 11% of the total smartphone market share in India, in 2018. The rate of growth of second-hand phones in India is around 25%, higher than the global average of 18-20%. The price point is a key factor in India, when it comes to purchasing a smartphone.
Most Bought Models
In 2018, Xiaomi took the Indian smartphone market by storm and became the top-selling smart- phone brand in terms of market share in India. Xiaomi was also the leader in second-hand smartphone sold on Cashify. Its Redmi Note 3GB/32 GB variant was the most traded model, followed by the iPhone 6 16GB variant as the second most traded used phone of 2018. Motorola’s G4 Plus with its 32 GB variant was the 3rd most traded smartphone online.
The list of phones that were swapped under warranty include the Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro 64GB, Xiaomi Mi A1 64GB, and Samsung Galaxy S8 64GB among others.
Brand Loyalty
We have taken 3 brands: Xiaomi, Samsung and OnePlus, to study brand loyalty, as these 3 brands have the best retention rate compared to their competitors in the smartphone industry. 38.62% of Samsung customers remained with the brand when they upgraded, 34.16% of Xiaomi customers trusted the brand and upgraded to a new Xiaomi device and 24.6 % of existing OnePlus users upgraded to a new OnePlus smartphone only.
City-wise Data
Data shows that there’s a decline in the re-commerce market in metro cities, giving room for tier 2 cities to take a chunk.
Delhi’s market share in the total smartphones traded online stands at 19%, with a decline of 9% from 28% in 2016. Bangalore also saw a decline in its market share to 13%, from 17.6% in 2016. Mumbai saw a decline in its share from 13.7% in 2016 to 11% in 2018. Pune’s market share remained constant at 6%. Hyderabad’s market-share marginally increased from 6.8% in 2016 to 7% in 2018. Gurgaon’s market share has increased from 73% in 2016 to 86% in 2018. And Kolkata’s market share has also gone down from 84% in 2016 to 44% in 2018.
Some Interesting Statistics
Of the users who took an online quote on Cashify in any given hour, 70% made up their mind to sell their phone. And 80% of users who took an online quote in any given day chose to sell their phone on Cashify as well.
65% of all quotes obtained in a day are during breakfast hours (8-10 AM). Almost 75% of our users are male and 25% are female. The truth index, a measure of phones matching their condition as described online, is fantastic among women sellers of Tier 2 cities. As per independent research, women tend to sell their phones more on Cashify than any other online platform.
In 2020, the Indian pre-owned smartphone market is expected to reach 46 million units. Xiaomi is gaining traction not just in new phones but also in the refurbished phone market. As the replacement cycle has shortened from 16 months to 12 months along with an increase in average selling price year-on-year, the pre-owned market will continue growing. Aspirations to own new high-end phones are rising among smartphone users. We see major traction for pre-owned smartphones coming from lower-income groups of Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
Finally, Cashify’s latest offering, ScreenPro, offers mobile screen repairs in just 30 minutes right at your doorstep.
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Narender Kumar
Always on the quest to learn and share the knowledge. Big fan of books (but not the self help ones) specially fiction. A grammar Nazi who loves to eat, cook, travel and watching thunderstorms.