Archos Eyes about 40% Nigeria’s Smart Devices Market -Olukotun

Ademola Olukotun is the country manager, Archos in Nigeria. He is a seasoned product manager with a vast experience in start-up businesses to a world class standard.
Ademola was a foundation staff of Visafone Communication Limited (CDMA Network in Nigeria). He later joined Etisalat Nigeria as one of the foundation staff and also commenced the Devices department of company.
He also worked with Airtel Network Limited as Manager Devices & Partnership and also was a key player in starting up SOLO Phone Nigeria Limited before joining Archos S.A in 2015 to manage the Nigeria business for the company.
In this interview with peter ugwu, he explains Archos’ uniqueness and business opportunities in Nigeria.

User perception of Archos products
Before speaking on that, I want to make it clear how phone distribution in Nigeria is structured. We have the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) like Archos, the distributors made up of companies that buy the products and resell to the retailers.
Retailers are closer to the consumers. Why I used that analogy as prelude to answering how the perception has been, is that these partners have their ways of reviewing a product. For instance, the retailers the likes of Slot, Micro Station, etc., most customers have one time or the other patronised either of these retailers.
They have actually accepted us well. The reason being that, most their MDs or CEOs who are widely traveled, have come in contact with Archos before we launched in Nigeria. So, it was not a ‘new product’ to them when we came in.
 It gave us an edge and made our marketing very easy. We have been in business since 1988 and about 80% of them have come in contact with us. On the customers’ perspective, we have cutting-edge SkYous (models) of smart devices.
We launched into the market six smartphones and two tablets. That was very interesting and huge for a new entrant. We deliberately did that; to give customers verities to choose from.
They might same operating system, but different in terms of pricing, resolutions, screen size, etc. Archos pedigree created attention and the verities created exceptions.
As the Company to produce the first android tablet and have partnership with Google, will tell you that we have the intention to replicate that in this market too.

Unique Selling Proportion
Some people are already comparing the devices with others in the market and are beginning to see the differences.
For instance, certain brands would promise our entertainment freak youths the opportunity to download music; video and play on the go, but looking at the capacity of the device you will tell the experiences have not been as promised.
In Archos, the unique selling point in the area of entertainment is that you can squeeze or zip-up contents, creating room for more and enjoy them at your convenient.
Talking about our slogan ‘Entertainment You Way’ is basically that part of human life today is ‘tied’ to devices.
I can’t imagine myself doing away with my phone or laptop or tablet. What we have done is to make the gadget to be part of us; we have the best of them in terms of video, music, and getting additional accessories.

Archos Connected Objects and Accessories
Apart from the smartphones, tablets, we have connected objects that give users different experiences.
For instance the virtual reality glasses can be used to watch 3HD videos; which is first of its kind. The headsets come in various SkYous.
We have one for the bourgeois; serving like a head-warmer. With it, you can receive your calls, play music. It has multi-functional dimension. They are still part of the things that set us apart in the market.

Why Introducing Six smartphones In Same Market, Same Day?
Yes, the smartphones are predominately using Android operating system. In other words, there are basic features that every Andorid phone must have, like emails, social media-Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, WasApp, BBM, among others.
If anyone is launching an Android phone and tells you these are unique features, it is not the brand rather the operating system. Why we introduced such number of phones, for emphasis, was aimed at creating opportunity for every class of people in the society to have the purchasing power.
All of them have the social media features, however, what differentiates them are the specs such as screen size, memory size, ROM, etc. we are giving everybody opportunity to have a feel of Archos.

Distribution Strategies
From the onset, we have been to the right phone retails hotspots like Slot, Micro Stations, and other the biggest distributor in the market, called ‘Let Me Distribute’ and they are growing.
Slot, for instance has over 100 locations across the country, but there are still volatile areas that need to be monitored before pushing to those areas.
We expect that with the new government, things will get settled and businesses will thrive in those areas too.
And as the country manager, I have the vision of making Archos products the choice and preferred brand of smart devices for all classes in Nigeria within a record time. What do I mean by this? Archos plans flooding Nigeria with quality and affordable products.
And Archos intends to create a close up and personal relationship with Nigeria and Nigerians, so whatever will impact positively and move Nigeria forward, we are ready to do anything to make that work. Not for myself but also for the future of the new generation.
Archos is poise to garner between 30%- 40% Market share of the Nigeria smart devices market (Smartphones, tablets and accessories). In Nigeria today, 80% of the network users uses feature phones (purely low end phones without data capabilities). In numbers, this means we have approximately 80 million phone users using feature phones. These feature phone users can gradually step up to use Smartphones.
This shows that there is a lot of opportunity to tap into the market. With the affordable Smartphones from Archos, quality will never be compromised and also customer services will also be key to us.
How do we achieve this herculean task, we intend to provide affordable Smartphones and tablets for Nigerian with world class quality.  Secondly back up all our sales with warranty and after sales service.
We are willing to invest heavily into the economy so we are not ready to quite in a hurry. So our spread will be strategic and steady. 

Partnerships
In the era of bring Your Own Device (BYOD), it makes sense to partner organizations, especially in the area of smartphone adoption. What we are doing presently is bundle educational contents in some of our tablets, exclusively for schools.
It is in interesting at this time most schools are phasing out ‘hard’ libraries and focus on digital or e-libraries. So, as the world is evolving we are following the trends too. It is a work in progress; hopefully, the schools will start using Archos devices in no distant time.  

ARCHOS Products and NCC Type Approved, SON Certification
Yes. All Archos devices have gone through both certifications. I will like to state categorically that Archos is not just a green horn in the telephone industry.
Archos has been existing, since 1988 with so many milestones for instance Archos is the first brand to launch the first Android tablet in the world.
Over time, we have strategically made an in route into so many Countries like France, Poland, Senegal, Russia, United States of America, Spain, England etc. Archos is one of the leading EU brands. So whatever we do, we adhere strictly to the ethics of the sector and Nigeria is no exception.
We respect the rules guiding every market where we operate. So, our products: smart phones – Archos 40C Titanium, Archos 50B Archos Platinum, Archos 50b Oxygen,  Archos 50b Neon (All Smartphones) and for tablets, we have Archos 101b XS2 tablets(WIFI only), Archos 101 Xenon, Archos 80b Xenon; these are type approved.
 
After Sales Support
We understand the important of after sells services. That is why we are partnering Cellular Service Logistics (CSL), to ensure our phone; tablets users get the best services. We have categories of services too.
The first is based on cases of warranty; if it happens to be manufacturer’s default, we do outright replacement instantly. Other aspect entails minor damages or slipping in water, they (CSL) have the pact.
They have been in the business for donkey years. Their spreads covers major areas in the country and can be easily reached.