In Nigeria, as soon as your ‘follow-come’ charger gets spoilt, get ready to use your money to experiment with different ‘Aba-made’ chargers.
Until Oraimo hit the market in 2013, many Nigerians faced the sad reality of inferior phone accessories that saturated the Nigerian market. Oraimo entered, fixed the problem, and grew bigger.
Have you wondered how Oraimo beat New Age (the first indigenous mobile phone accessory brand in Nigeria) in the phone accessory market in Nigeria? It is amazing how most people who used New Age products have switched to Oraimo.
- Offer Affordable Products with Consistent Quality
Although Oraimo products are not cheaper than New Age products, for the consistent durability it offers, Oraimo’s price is attractive to the average Nigerian.
In a country where people believe that every quality product should only be affordable to high-net-worth people, Oraimo reversed the notion.
You can use a ₦1,000 Oraimo earphone for about a year. If the earphone hooks on a door handle, it does not cut. If you misplace your buds, a pack comes with extra 6 pieces.
No matter how much you bend an Oraimo USB cord, it doesn’t spoil. Hey! If you are playing in a crowded market, go for quality. Make your product better than your competitors’ products, but not as expensive.
To penetrate a market dominated by poor people, affordability and consistent quality are key. Those were the simple strategies that broke the camel’s back.
GTB used the zero-account strategy to win Nigerians. Cowbell used the ₦5 sachet milk to win over poor Nigerians. When Bigi Cola entered the market, it sold its plastic bottle drink for ₦100 while Coca-Cola was selling for ₦150.
Producing quality products or services may increase your cost of production in the short run, but you will attain economies of scale quickly. The more you produce, the lower the per-unit cost of production. So, you will become profitable in the long run.
2. Finetune Your Brand
Oraimo is a Chinese brand, although registered in Nigeria. Chinese brands in Nigeria are seen as fake products. Oraimo strategically positioned its brand as a Nigerian brand.
They had to first push the brand message of quality to the Nigerian market. If they had portrayed their products as Chinese products, they would have been dead on arrival. Branding is more about perception.
Most fake products in Nigeria are tagged as ‘original.’ If Oraimo had preached this same message of originality too, it would have been regarded as one of ‘those’ brands.
Oraimo USB cords and power banks speak durability. Oraimo chargers speak ultra-speed. Oraimo smartwatches speak affordability. Oraimo earbuds speak experience.
Branding is not about hype, it’s about the promise. Oraimo is keeping to the promise it makes in its branding message. Branding is an experience. There is a higher level of confidence that comes with using Oraimo products.
To sell clothes in a village where villagers dress naked, change their perception. To penetrate a market where you are not accepted, change their perception and change your brand message. If you can change their perception, you can get their attention. Oraimo tailored its brand to suit its customers’ needs.
New Age hit the market in 2008 with a black and orange brand colour. Very catchy! Oraimo entered the market with a lemon colour such that even an illiterate Nigerian can recognize an Oraimo product at a glance.
Your brand colour matters. If Oraimo had chosen a red colour, Nigerians would have thought it was manufactured by Itel. If Oraimo had chosen a blue colour, Nigerians would have thought it was manufactured by Tecno. Oraimo chose a strategic and unique colour.
3. Know Your Target Customers
Transsion Holdings Pvt Ltd is the same company that owns Itel, Tecno and Infinix also own Oraimo. So, they understood the Nigerian market so well. They had sufficient data to study. Oraimo knew their target customers with clarity. No guesswork. No trial and error.
According to Apple Inc., about 94 percent of phone users in Nigeria use tọnọ́sọ́bẹ̀ and Android phones. Instead of targeting the 6 percent who use iPhones, Oraimo focused on Android phone users. They gained market share by selling to people other manufacturers ignored.
We are in a generation where everyone wants to sell to the 1 percent of the 1 percent. Many business owners are struggling to throw sticks on fruits that are at the top of the tree while ignoring many low-hanging fruits that they can easily plug with their hands.
It is possible to make ₦1 million by selling a ₦100,000 product to 10 people. But in a poor country like Nigeria, it is easier to sell ₦1,000 products to 1,000 people and equally make ₦1 million.
This is the secret of MTN. This is the secret of Toyota. If Oraimo had entered the market to compete directly with Apple, it would have choked to death.
4. Adopt Flood Marketing
Have you noticed that there are not many advertisements for phone accessory brands in Nigeria? Companies advertise phones, not phone accessories. It is not enough to offer an essential product or service; you must promote it well.
I think what worked mostly for Oraimo is word-of-mouth marketing. Believe it or not, the comical phrase “wipe am Oraimo cord” is a marketing anthem.
As long as your customers keep getting value for their money, they will continue spreading the good news about your business. This is the consequent effect of firstly selling quality and affordable products that are essential needs for an average Nigerian.
Using Tuface Idibia and Burna Boy as brand ambassadors for the Oraimo earbuds was synergetic. In other words, if you want to enjoy your music, use Oraimo earbuds.
Brand ambassadors are hired to influence a product. Imagine the number of views and engagements that Oraimo will get when Burna Boy with 12.8 million Instagram followers posts it on his feed.
Influence marketing makes your product more visible to people. Brand ambassadors are not just celebrities, they influence the buying decisions of people. C’est fini.
Many people started eating MunchIt chin-chin because of Davido. Many people started using Infinix phones because of Davido. My friends signed up for Kuda Bank because of Erica.
If you can afford to hire an influencer to market your product, please do. But don’t forget that any influencer you choose must be synergetic with your brand and product.
Apart from paid adverts on social media and featuring on Big Brother Naija, Oraimo has flooded the market through badass strategies.
They have continued to put their adverts before the face of every Nigerian that you may not be able to think about other brands. Flood marketing is the combination of both online and offline marketing strategies.
5. Launch Simple Products First, Before Sophisticated Products
Oraimo started first by introducing essential products before luxury products. They introduced simple products first, before introducing sophisticated products.
Chargers and USB cords first before power banks, bluetooth speakers, earbuds, smart watches, electric toothbrushes, vacuum cleaners, and clippers.
Diversification is a risky move in business. It is not the same class of customers who buy a USB cord that will buy a smartwatch. Hence, you have to devise new marketing messages and strategies to win these new targets.
Diversifying your products or launching a new product into the market should be done one step at a time. It should happen after the initial product has reached a product-market fit and you have successfully experimented with a strategy.
Jumia got eCommerce right before it launched Jumia Foods. A.A. Rano succeeded in petroleum marketing before it ventured into airlines.
6. Know Your Competitors
At the onset of the charger, USB cord, and power bank game, New Age and Onitsha boys were Oraimo’s competitors. As Oraimo entered the earbud and smartwatch market, the competition changed.
In a country where hungry people love to appear rich, Oraimo is the best alternative for Nigerians who cannot afford Apple products.
Why buy an Apple AirPods or smartwatch for hundreds of thousands when you can get a similar product for a lesser price?
A poor economy favours substitute goods. Oraimo also used almost the same product design as Apple to close the distinction with Apple products.
It is known as “Disruptive Innovation” – where a smaller company innovates a product similar to a luxury product made by a bigger company while targeting a market that seemingly couldn’t afford the luxury product.
7. Act Ahead of Sleeping Giants
Are New Age products good? Yes. But Oraimo products are perceived to be better. Did New Age do anything wrong? No! They were only sleeping when Oraimo was thinking and planning ahead of them.
Oraimo took them by surprise. Oraimo was selling the future Nigerians long desired. Just like Nokia, New Age did not innovate and evolve fast enough when others were doing the same.
Is New Age becoming Old Age? Watch out!
© Kingsley Ndimele
Your Reliable Consultant.