Market experts believe Google’s half-hearted approach and a bad go-to-market strategy for the Indian market could be linked with Pixel’s abysmal presence in the world’s second-largest market.
Interestingly, at the same time, Google has shown results in other markets, especially in Japan, where its Pixel series beat the smartphone market downturn with a five-fold growth in shipments to reach an all-time high share of 34% in Q1 2023. According to Counterpoint Research, Japan surpassed the US to become the bigger contributor to Google Pixel shipments.
Pixel has less than 1% market share in India at a time when pricier Apple iPhones are seeing significant growth in the market across price segments.
According to insights from CyberMedia Research, Pixel has consistently held less than a 0.2% market share in India for the past five years.
“Their biggest challenge is still the distribution and go-to-market strategy and over-indexed on features like camera. They have a very good value proposition regarding AI and software-related positioning…that story needs to come out clearly. It is not coming out now,” Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint, told ET.TechArc’s founder analyst Faisal Kawoosa seconds this opinion and says that Google Pixel is “scarcely discoverable” in India even as the brand makes noise around the launch of any new Pixel smartphone series. “Somehow, Google isn’t still able to catch the pulse in India. Undoubtedly, its product is good and has one of the best cameras, but that’s not enough. Its weaknesses are still there as regards the Indian market,” Kawoosa said.
Kawoosa added that servicing Pixel handsets is another issue that takes much longer than the current industry standards. “No one has that time to wait. Pixel is sold through Flipkart, while all key premium brands go with Amazon because that is where most premium users are. We have recently seen Flipkart’s smartphone contributions dwindling compared to Amazon. Just this year, most of the online launches were Amazon exclusives.”
Beyond the niche tech enthusiasts, mainstream smartphone buyers in India have largely remained unaware of the Pixel brand, Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR said.
Pathak, referring to Counterpoint’s consumer study, said that when users plan to buy a premium smartphone, software and UI are the second most preferred features, and despite Google having these key differentiators, they are not able to convey to consumers.
In India, Google competes with players like iQOO on gaming proposition, Vivo on colour material finish, Samsung with Camera and brand name, and Apple with the aspirational tag, analysts said.
Pathak said that India, being an open market and more competitive than other emerging and developed markets, will give a chance to every brand to grow, including Google. “Google will, but it will take some time here.”
A query sent to Google India went unanswered.
Google on Wednesday launched its new Pixel 8 series and the Pixel Watch 2 with deeper artificial intelligence (AI) technology integration. The Pixel 8 is priced at Rs 75,999, the Pixel 8 Pro is priced at Rs 106,999, and the Pixel Watch 2 is priced at Rs 39,900.
Experts have also blamed Google’s inconsistent pricing strategy as one of the reasons for its bad performance in India.
“Google could have demanded this price from the Indian consumer basis features, especially AI, etc., but it has made almost negligible efforts to build the market in India and connect with the potential consumers. It cannot one fine day come and announce a product with an inconsistent pricing strategy. If this approach continues, we may soon see Pixel, a non-gata brand in smartphones in India,” Kawoosa said.
While every smartphone brand is assembling devices in India, Google has yet to start its “make in India” journey due to extremely low volume.
However, the US-based company recently started talks with domestic contract manufacturers like Lava, Dixon and Bharat FIH to assemble its Pixel phones in India, taking a page out of Apple’s playbook, which has shifted a portion of iPhone production out of China in recent years.
“To establish a sustainable presence, Google needs to intensify its Make in India initiatives, offer competitive pricing, devise effective channel strategies, and support these efforts with strong marketing campaigns. Half-hearted measures won’t suffice in India’s fiercely competitive smartphone market,” Ram said.
