China’s Oppo cell phone brand arrives in Brazil as world’s 5th-largest, considers local manufacturing

A new brand of cell phones will enter the Brazilian retail market: the Chinese Oppo will sell the Reno 7 smartphone in partner stores from Monday, September 26.

The brand plans to use this period to get to know the domestic market and admits the possibility of manufacturing devices in the country.

“We understand that the import tax, including the other financial costs and taxes, are high,” said Oppo’s CEO in Brazil, Jim Zhang, in an interview with G1.

“Therefore, we intend in the future, one day, to start our local manufacturing operation. But at this moment, we need to know more about the general context of how to start this operation, start local manufacturing,” he added.

Founded in 2004, the company arrived in some Latin American countries three years ago and now comes to Brazil.

According to consultancy IDC, Oppo is the 5th best-selling brand of smartphones globally.

The company sold 24.7 million devices in the second quarter of 2022, representing 8.6% of the global market.

In the 4th position is Chinese Vivo, Oppo’s sister company in the BBK Electronics group, which owns the cell phone brand Realme, present in Brazil since 2021.

“The three brands share some shareholders, but they are companies that are in an independent operation,” said Zhang.

According to the executive, there was care before operating in Brazil, the 4th-largest smartphone market in the world.

“It is a strategic market, and Oppo has spent many years studying, understanding, and observing this market to determine the right time to enter.”

HOW IS THE SMARTPHONE MARKET DOING?

Worldwide smartphone sales fell 8.7% in Q2 2022, according to IDC.

Oppo recorded the second-steepest drop among the five market leaders and sold 24.6% fewer units in the period compared to the same 2021 interval.

The scenario in Brazil is also not encouraging: IDC projects that there will be a 5% drop in smartphone sales in the country in 2022.

For next year, the expectation is for growth between 3% and 4%, considered shy.

“The market became much more pessimistic than expected,” said the Research and Consulting Manager of Consumer Devices at IDC Brazil, Reinaldo Sakis.

According to him, this happened mainly after Mother’s Day, one of the main retail dates in sales.

“From May to here, what has been missing – and this is what worries the market the most – is the lack of users and demand in the retailer,” Sakis told g1.

“The concern with inflation, with the dollar, with uncertainties at the end of the year, with what will happen next year has taken some of the impetus away from Brazilians to buy products. It affects smartphones and other products in the retail product basket,” he explained.

PREPARING TO ENTER BRAZIL

Oppo’s Zhang says that the company took longer to decide when it would enter Brazil than other Latin American countries because it needed to know the local market better.

“Oppo entered Latin America in 2019, which is the last continent, the last piece of the market that Oppo entered,” he explained.

“Brazil is part of that planning, but we didn’t have enough knowledge at that time to make the aggressive decisions.”

Now, the company is betting on a partnership with a local representative since the company Usina de Vendas will distribute the phones.

The sale will only occur on Amazon’s website and in physical stores of the Vivo operator. Oppo’s team will mainly take care of marketing.

“We recognize that we are all outsiders and don’t know this market that well,” Zhang said.

“So the model of our operation is to partner with a national representative who takes care of almost everything, from channel layout, distribution, and after-sales services.”

DEBUT WITH RENO 7

Oppo, which plans to launch three cell phones and a headset in Brazil, will debut in the country with the Reno 7.

According to the company, the smartphone has a suggested price of R$2,999 (US$580) and is part of a line that has sold 60 million units worldwide since its launch in 2019.

The device has a 32-megapixel selfie camera and a triple rear camera with a 64-megapixel main sensor. It features a 6.4-inch display, 4,500 mAh battery, 6 GB of RAM, and 128 GB of storage.

With information from G1