Indian Smart TV Market: A Case of RealMe’s Entry

Research by: Brij Mohan Taneja & Sandeep Puri

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The case describes Realme’s plans to launch its smart TV (television) in India amidst multiple smartphone makers and electronics giants in the fray. In March 2020, Realme, a Chinese startup, announced the global debut of its smart TV in India in the second quarter of 2020. Followed by Realme India’s chief executive officer Madhav Sheth’s predictions that the company would be disruptive with its aggressive pricing and would clock ₹30 billion in sales from the 20 new product categories it planned to launch over the year. His assurances came on the back of good growth in 2019, where Realme earned ₹147 billion from the sale of 15 million smartphones. This case tries to analyze the steps Realme took to reach its goals of doubling its sales revenue in 2020, becoming one of the Big Five manufacturers by 2021, and achieving the sale of 1 million smart TVs in India by December 2020. In the face of stiff competition and pricing, what go-to-market strategies can Realme adopt for the e-commerce launch of its smart TVs? How would it segment, target, and position its smart TVs?

The case offers an opportunity for students to apply marketing strategies, such as marketing mix, segmentation, targeting, positioning, and go-to-market strategies for the launch of a new product. Also, in the process, build a rigorous and persuasive understanding of different marketing strategy concepts such as VRIO (valuable, rare, costly to imitate, and organized) for competitive advantage and portfolio diversification as platforms for growth.

After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:

• Develop a framework for analyzing new business opportunities and evaluating the risks of entering a new business segment.
• Understand the relevance of analytical tools such as SWOT (strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threat), VRIO in launching a new product line.
• Understand segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP), particularly positioning a brand in its target market.
• Understand go-to-market (GTM) strategies for the launch of a new product.

To cite this case:  Puri, S., & Taneja, B. M. (2021). Indian smart TV market: A case of Realme’s entry. Journal of International Business Education, 16, 237-254.

To access this case: https://www.neilsonjournals.com/JIBE/abstractjibe16realme.html

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The Journal of International Business Education enhances education in international business worldwide through the publication of high-quality refereed teaching materials, articles on key developments in teaching methods and technologies, and new institutional frameworks for international business education.

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