Has OPPO Lost its Chance in Pakistan?

OPPO, a smartphone manufacturing company headquartered in China and having operations in various markets in Asia Pacific and North Africa, launched its operations in PakistanĀ just over an year ago.

OPPO is largely known for its brilliant branding and amazing marketing strategy backĀ home in China where they enjoy a fair market share andĀ we all were hoping to see similar kind of impact in Pakistani market where the demand for smartphones had just opened up after 3G/4G auction in April 2014.

However, OPPO failed to attract any significant response in Pakistan. Let’s look at what exactly went wrong with them so far.

Flawed Pricing Strategy

Despite fierce competition and a clear demand for low-to-mid-end smartphones, a fresh brand with noĀ trust from consumers at all, OPPO launched high-end phones and even worse itĀ arguably priced themĀ more than the value that these phones had toĀ offer.

Later in 2014Ā OPPO launchedĀ couple ofĀ more models in Singapore that were immediately made available in Pakistan, but those were again high-priced devices, a segment that is aggressively dominated by Samsung and Apple.

OPPO realized the mistake and launched low-end phones down the line in 2015, including Neo 5, Joy 3Ā and Neo 5s.

OPPO tried to damage control the situation byĀ offering hefty discounts — as much as 25% — forĀ its flagship devices, including the ones that were still fresh in ageĀ and were sold by OPPO as its premium devices.

An OPPO spokerperson, in an email communication with ProPakistani saidĀ that decision for reduction in price for premium handsets like Find 7s was taken because handset was launched an year ago. Commenting on the discounts offered forĀ N3 and R5 devices, he said thatĀ reduction in price was part of OPPO’s special campaign onĀ Eid.

According to the spokesperson, these discount offers are normal and otherĀ smartphone companies also offer similar discounts and promotions for their phones.

One has to wonder that why these phones weren’t rightly priced in the first place, to gain trust at least and to get itself recognized in the local market.

OPPO failed to make their first impression, and it is going to be hard for them to make an impression again with such discounts.

PerceptionĀ Challenge

AsĀ smartphone companies are evolving, they keep on innovating their ways of interaction with retailers, who are considered the back-bone ofĀ the sales channels of any smartphone brand. QMobile is best known for manipulating the retailers and feeding them with their needs. This is probably why chances are that retailers will show you a QMobile before any other handset when asked for a smartphone in specific price range.

OPPO struggled here too. Market perception about the company isn’t solid and retailers aren’t happy with how OPPO dealt with them. This is a reason that OPPO hasn’t been able to clear its stock for a year old Find 7 device.

OPPO’sĀ business model is flawed, they are working on cash in a credit based market and this is exactly you won’t hear much from retailers about the brand.

Perception can easily be measured if you go to market and simply try to sell your OPPO phones. Retailers’ response and feedback will clearly tell you the position where you brand is standing and how well it is received by the masses.

OPPO probably thought that branding their shops andĀ coloring the mobile plazas will do the trick. It is clear that they misjudged the community and fed them with wrong food.

OPPO is also struggling with maintaining its relations with various vendors and partners, who rendered their services to OPPO.

Management Issues (Resignations and Layoffs)

On top of what we have discussed above, OPPO has been undergoing some severe managerial issues since the start of their operation in the country. Their senior staff, includingĀ HR Manager, Marketing Manager, Brand Supervisor, Product Manager and Community Manager resigned recently by sensing the situation of the company.

When we asked the spokesperson, he justifiedĀ that few employees left the company because OPPO was not satisfied with theirĀ performance and workingĀ attitudes. He said thatĀ replacements for these positions are being arranged and will be filled accordingly.

Our sources tell us that various OPPO investors left the country, indicating that OPPO has lost its hope in Pakistani market, but they are confident about Pakistan and emphasized thatĀ OPPO hasĀ plans to stay in PakistanĀ for long.

OPPO firedĀ several hundred of its sales staffĀ recently to cut the expenses, which has triggered a bad reputeĀ for the company in theĀ market.Ā When asked, OPPO said thatĀ it had to fire some staff toĀ maintainĀ company’sĀ integrity and thatĀ staffĀ didn’tĀ follow company’s policies so only qualified staff is retained while rest are allowed to leave.

One may wonder that why unqualified staff was hired in the first place.

The Future?

OPPO isĀ confident about its future in Pakistan, at least this is what they claim. It said that high-ups from China just arrived Pakistan and they have some big plans for the market.

However, fewĀ individuals, who have previouslyĀ worked with OPPO, while sharing their thoughts with us said that OPPO has potential in its devices but management and pricing is an area where it must put revised thoughts to gain momentum.

Not to mention, OPPO has a lost of traction during past one year — due to things we have mentioned above– and it will have to do thrice the effort to revive the brand name, trust and ultimately the market share in Pakistani market.

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • Compare prices of Oppo N1 and Find 5/7 with OnePlus One, Lenovo K3 Note, and Xiaomi Mi4 on chinese websites and you will get the answer.

      • You can get one from chinese sellers. If you don’t know how to get one, you probably don’t want Oppo as well. Just get a Nokia phone cause they’re “readily available”.

        • That logic *slow clapping*. I see that you’re not familiar to sarcasm. Don’t worry, it’s a new concept. (Again, sarcasm. In plain English this time)

          The cost of getting those phones from Chinese resellers, as you put it, defeats the purpose of those phones being cheap. Chinese resellers aren’t cheap and one can get far better phones locally for the prices Chinese resellers ask for those phones.

      • and gionee too….and they r sold in retail stores unlike the Xiaomi phones….atleast here in India

  • The reduction in prices of the flagship devices, which I also purchased, was really popular and favorable for OPPO. Many people in my circles decided to buy it after seeing that Find 7a offers more value than S5 at a much lower price.

      • When I find an app that SD 810 can run and my SD801 can’t, I’ll demote my device’s status to a midrange. Till then it is a flagship.

        I do agree with you though on the point about resale value but that’s just a problem of perception.

  • is main video ka to ziker he nahi kiya
    Ammi mennu oppo da mobile lay k deyo
    video b khas nahi chali koi

  • i could of have opted for OPPO but i heard their OS is not up to the mark of those used in motorola’s or samsung’s

  • who already left the company and leak the informationt of this company,in the future this person will do the same.Shame on it.

  • when oppo reduced the Prices of low end phones like NEO 5 they also changed the hardware, it was a qualcomm device altered to mediatek with lower price tag later which has lots of issues and third class performance.

      • If mediatek they installed for price reduction was better than Qualcomm they needed not to alter the device. And I am talking about the first hand experience of using both devices. One would want to bang his head into the wall using new mediatek neo5 after an hour of usage.

  • And plus this writer dont have any respect for any one,and wrote the name and specially point to this person.That’s made me feel this is not one article which stand in the fair side.This writer ‘s friend must have some person issues with OPPO.

    • I am not liable to reveal the sources, unless allowed explicitly by them. Yes, you can question the factuality of any information, if it’s wrong.
      And by the way, I had to interview several people to prepare this article, which includes both your current and former employees. Not all had grudges against OPPO.

      • I just can say the person which you interviewed were most left OPPO already, and only one is here presently working in OPPO. If your interview 99.9% based on those people who left OPPO, why would we and other people trust your article?

        • OPPO is one international brand in the world,this is just the first year in Pakistan,you start to make the subject as”lost its chance”,it’s very funny point. The chances are always there.Plus you also have the chance for everything.Next time if you need write some other article for other mobile company, I kindly suggest you to use other subjects for your article

          • Hui, trust me, whatever I wrote is the statement from the market.

            If your subordinates aren’t reporting you facts then I can connect you to people who aren’t happy about your policies.

            • Firstly,I cannot trust you because you provided the wrong information.From your article,you put all the responsibilities on one person,and you even don’t know who is belong to senior management,you just wrote like that.It makes me feel that it’s unprofessional. The faces are there,and always there,if don’t know clearly,then get clearly then publish,it’s better than you misguide your readers.

              • I had asked the “one person” about company’s view point officially, through his official email address and he should have owned his statements. Still I have removed his name, if this could satisfy you.

          • Dear… writer is not against oppo or u people. He just mentioned the facts which caused failure of a good brand. The same was my feeling when oppo revealed pricing in Pakistan last year. I admire the performance of devices but keep in mind the customers can not pay double for little bit improved performance… i paid 13k for Quad core device and oppo was offering in 24k… no competition. Either u reach at Apple’s level who can sell 1Gb ram device in 84k or compete the market to win…. every body like to see oppo running but massive restructuring is required by learning from mistakes instead of sticking with them
            Best wishes

        • Again, I can help you with is if there is any misinformation in the article. Otherwise you can trust article or even don’t, it’s up to you.

          • Ok,just removed the certain person ‘s name.This is the first step to correct your wrong information.

        • You could target yourself as OnePlus for Pakistan, since similarities are a lot. Secondly didn’t got discount news at all.

  • I agree with your pricing comment. However, being owner of Huawei 3C LTE & Oppo Find 7a, I feel that 3C is no match with find7a, despite almost same price! Except 4 the Android version, I can count many traits that makes Huawei & especially Qmobile mediocre as compared 2 Oppo. Regarding Oppo’s sale network, on my query, my Find7a, its flip cover & receipts were delivered at my home! Does any company offer such a level of support here in Pakistan! I will especially bash Microsoft Devices for not being able to enable 4G on my Lumia 820 despite a long wait of 6 months. So I give hands up 2 Oppo & thumb down 2 all other brands available in Pakistan!

    • I Agree. .I have bought two find 7a after using Samsung and believe me , no comparison in between both.. Oppo is amazing device.. I have updated my Oppo to Lollipop ColorOS too ;) Feeling amazing :D

      • Brother how did u update color os to lollipop? I have a Samsung S4. Although an expensive set, I have faced frequent software issues, my phone is not updating to lollipop, got a bump on a side with a small drop, doesn’t support 4G & had to get speakers repaired! I have had bad experiences with Samsung S4 mini, core & other sets that I don’t remember, as well. So I need supporting arguments from users of other brands?

        • I am really amazed with OPPO device.. their customer service is awesome ! I have updated it to Lollipop via System Update :-) ColorOS v2.1.3i is available on Oppo Forums :-)

          • I tried online system update. However I got the message that my system is up 2 date! Are updates available on forums safe?

            • Yes ofcourse they are safe … m using the latest verison as of 2.1.3I and its working fine with good battery life as well … just download the full package and put it on internel storage (not in any folder) and then update from local update … it will take some time to boot ..so have patience

              • Thanks! Is ur phone showing Android as lollipop? Do u confirm that oppo doesn’t offer ota updates? When I had connected my device to WiFi 4 the 1st time, my phone had updated itself? Should I wait 4 lollipop ota update?

                • when i spoke to OPPO Pakistan on FB, they say that carrier will release the update.. which I doubt as its not a locked phone…Anyways, go to oppoforums and download the latest update and flash via local update in system > about .. it will not be a problem as officially not even Kitkat has been released lol

      • Mine is Honor 3C LTE that I bought from Warid @ about 29000 last year. U r probably giving price of 3C with no LTE support. I’ve bought my Find7a for 29990 this year! I keep my comment that the two sets r no comparison!

        • Last year*
          Case closed!
          Right now at the moment Find 7a costs 27.5K (just checked @ 17Aug15) and Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML (5.5 inch 4GB model) costs 26K
          Now compare them and FIND a way out of the comparison! :-D

            • The 4GB Asus was on HSN with the 16GB model, but all of their colours have recently stocked out.. You’ll have to wait since I cant see other people matching the price!

              • dude.. I doubt that.. you are mistaken.. 4GB ram was never available for 26k , 4GB ram variant has only 32GB ROM ..

                • Well I saw that model in 4GB exact that is why I was worried whether to take that or buy a OnePlus One previously which later on fell on to the OPO.
                  I dont exactly remember the memory storage size but yes, the RAM was 4GB no doubt with 27K price which later on became 26k :-)

          • Brother I only compared the sets I have. Have never used Asus so u may be right. I only defended Oppo because I got value 4 money as compared to manufacturers like qmobile, Samsung & Huawei who r popular because of lower cost & have minimum consideration for quality!

    • I have used Qmobile A50 & A600. Although cheap I had to frequently visit the customer service center at Islamabad to get both sets repaired repeatedly! Now I have sold out the A 600, A50 is still lying un repaired. So at least I would prefer buying an expensive set instead of getting a cheap set repeatedly! I sincerely hope that Qmobile spend more money on improving quality instead of baseless advertising!

  • lol zohair chohan is a loser.. first he joined propakistani and then left and bad mouthed the brand, called aamir atta a blackmailing machine and then joined oppo and then left them and bad mouthed them. the problem is not with propakistani or oppo the problem is with that guy. he is never going to acheieve anything in life because of negative character.

    • Why shouldn’t we? It’s our content, our funds, our strategy… We can do things we deem correct.

  • Are you talking about me, eh?

    First of all, I don’t know you ā”€ which means your name is fake. So let’s assume you’re a paid monkey, trying to be over smart. I assume you’re a new guy in the company.

    Secondly, this article is not written by me ā”€ as you’ve mentioned I have left ProPakistani, so I don’t get to decide what goes on here. I assume that the information provided in this articles is gathered through market and some spokesperson at OPPO (Brand Executive / Brand Manager etc).

    As a blogger working in this field for the past 7 years, I could have a difference of opinion with Aamir Attaa and many others. That was the main reason I have left this publication.

    Third, the company OPPO respects me and I respect them. I have certificates from both OPPO Pakistan & Guangdong OPPO that praises my efforts for the company. They won’t even let me go and from time to time, I provide them assistance ā”€ even I’ve “left” the company. (Evidence can be provided and proved in a court of law).

    If someone from OPPO has personal grudges against me, that I can’t help with.

    Have a good day!
    ā”€ MZC

  • When OPPO launched last year, I compared to LG G2 with its price worth and the Find7a..
    Nobody got the humor.. Now they will :-D
    Learn a trick or two from Xiaomi until people eat popcorns :-P


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