Honor aims for top three spot in Thai smartphone market within three years
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Honor aims to secure a position among the top three brands in the Thai market within the next three years. To achieve this, the company plans to focus on heavy marketing investments and related activities.
Sutida Mongkolsuthree, CEO of Synnex (Thailand), the sole distributor of Honor mobile phones in Thailand, believes that the overall market share of Honor can be increased to 3-4% this year.
Over the past 10 months, Honor re-entered the Thai market, appointing Synnex as its sole distributor and service provider. The company has managed to gain a 5-7% market share in the mid-to high-priced smartphone segment, priced between 10,000 and 20,000 baht. However, Honor’s share of the overall smartphone market remains below 1%.
This week, Honor launched its flagship smartphone model, the Honor Magic5 Pro 5G, in Thailand. According to Mongkolsuthree, overall smartphone sales account for 40% of Synnex’s total revenue. She also noted that data from IT research firm IDC showed that Thailand’s smartphone market contracted 17% year-on-year in the first quarter.
Mongkolsuthree stated that consumers are currently cautious in their spending, especially in the entry-level smartphone segment. In this segment, customers now prefer mobile phones costing less than 5,000 baht, compared to the previous focus on devices costing around 7,000 baht.
Despite the tough competition in the entry-level smartphone market, Mongkolsuthree believes that the market situation will improve in the second half of this year, particularly in the fourth quarter. She also mentioned that Synnex has received support from Honor in terms of marketing, brand shop expansion, and promoting special-priced products to attract customers.
Honor, which was previously a sub-brand under Huawei, separated from the parent company in 2020. The new parent company was co-founded by Shenzhen Smart City Technology Development Group. Last year, Honor held the No. 2 position in China in terms of market share and ranked No. 6 globally. In Malaysia, the brand has a 7% market share.
To elevate its brand image in Thailand, Honor has introduced the Magic5 Pro 5G smartphone at a special price of 29,900 baht, lower than the 34,000 baht price tag in other countries. The company has allocated a marketing budget of 30 million baht for this model. Synnex also plans to increase the number of Honor Experience stores to 15, up from the current six, across Thailand this year, reported Bangkok Post.
