Smartphone sales push up demand for accessories

I have always maintained that in many ways, a new phone is like a new car. It's a prized possession that one cannot wait to show off to family and friends. But before flaunting, we always accessorise to make it look nicer.   

With elevating popularity for smartphones and other mobile devices in the country, there is also increasing demand for mobile accessories. The size of the market for mobile accessories is about Rs 1,500 crore, according to industry estimates.

Mobile device adoption amongst youth population in the country and continual decline of prices of mobile phones are the impetus to the growth of mobile accessory market in India. Online retailing also plays a big part. It offers the convenience of cash-on-delivery payment option and cheaper offers.

"Mobile accessories constitute seven per cent of overall mobiles related searches on Junglee.com. For the past four weeks, 46 per cent of consumers searched for accessories such as cases and covers, followed by headsets (14 per cent) and screen protector foils," said Mahendra Nerurkar, general manager at Junglee.

While the most popular accessories are protective cases and covers, mobile power banks are also making their way into the 'must own basics.

"Mobile power banks will continue to dominate the mobile accessory industry for the next few years", says Pankaj Mirchandani, Director, Sales & Marketing, RCA, one of the biggest accessory distributors in the country.

"While brands like Portronics and Nextech are popular, Sony India is aggressive with its price points and is becoming a preferred accessory brand amongst users," added Mirchandani.

But there is a huge disparity in the mobile accessory market with several brands competing for market share owing to Chinese manufacturing infrastructure.

"Low-cost manufacturing and parallel imports have led to the advent of a huge unorganised market, the size of which is estimated at about 60 per cent of the overall market," said Amitesh Jha, senior director for retail, Flipkart (the largest accessory seller in India). Jha went on to say that this market can be classified into two segments-those sold by handset brands versus those sold by non-handset brands.

"The reason behind the growing grey market is the 30 per cent customs duty that we have to pay. Meanwhile accessories available in the grey market are under-invoiced and hence cost a lot less," added Vikas Swarnakar, Country Manager, Case Mate India.

Mobile accessories are also considered a style statement today and brands are focusing on making them trendy and attractive. While different coloured accessories add to the variety we see in the market, blacks and whites are preferred over variety. Accessories for Apple, Samsung, Sony and Nokia are in high demand. Given the nature of mobile accessories, bundling is an attractive option for manufacturers.

"Accessories for Apple iPhone 4 and 5/5S, Google Nexus 4, Nokia Lumia 520, Samsung Galaxy S3 and Sony Xperia M are currently the top selling brands on Amazon. Customers opt for high priced branded accessories for their high-end phones, however, for lower priced accessories such as cases and covers, screen protectors etc generic brands are selling more," said Amit Agarwal, vice-president and country manager, Amazon India.