4. RESULTS 4.1 OPPO’s STP Strategy 4.1.1 Market Segmentation By geographical factors, the markets of OPPO mobile phones can be divided into European and American market, Asian market and African market. European and American market covers America, Europe, Russian and other regions. Asian market covers Southeast Asia, China and other developing countries. By prices, the markets of OPPO mobile phones can be divided into low-end market, mid-range market and high-end market. The mid-range market and the low-end market include students, people who just start working, ordinary workers and so on. The target customer group values price and functionality. The high-end market includes private business owners, company leaders and so on. High-end products symbolize status. By demographic factors, OPPO mobile phones can be divided into phones for women, phones for men, phones for the students, phones for the young, phones for the old, etc. By functionality, OPPO’s mobile phones can be divided into general models, music phones, camera phones, business phones, entertainment phones, etc. 4.1.2 Market Targeting The main target consumer group of OPPO mobile phones includes young people from 18 to 30 years old, most of whom are either students or have just started to work from second-tier, third-tier and fourth-tier cities. They are after novelty and fashion. They follow the trend and advocate individuality. With active minds, they are interested in new things and pay attention to the quality of life. They also enjoy taking photographs, entertaining and socializing. 4.1.3 Market Positioning OPPO has positioned itself as a stylish and individualized mid-range and high-end mobile phone brand in the market. In the early days, OPPO mobile phones are positioned as music phones with perfect sound quality. 4.2 OPPO’s Marketing Strategy OPPO’s marketing strategy includes product, price, place and promotion. 4.2.1 Product Factors consumers consider when purchasing mobile phones include price, appearance, brand, previous experience, design style, how easy to use, size and weight, camera, battery life, memory, operation system, large screen and WiFi. The Research Report on the Demand of Chinese Mobile Consumers (First Half of 2016) issued by China Statistical Information Service Center divides consumers’ dimensions of attention while choosing mobile phones into brand, configuration, features, quality, appearance and price. Among them, consumers are the most concerned about the appearance, which accounts for 75%, followed by brand, features and quality. Configuration and price come last. Figure 1: Factors Chinese Consumers Consider when Choosing Mobile Phones Source: www.cqn.com.cn According to the Research Report on the Demand of Chinese Mobile Consumers, in terms of mobile features, photography has become a feature about which Chinese mobile consumers are the most concerned, accounting for as much as 65%, which is nearly 28% higher than the second on the list – fingerprint. In terms of photography itself, consumers are the most concerned about definition, followed by selfie effects and night shooting effects. Apple, OPPO and Samsung are the three most highly recognized brands among consumers for their photography features, accounting for 72.4%, 71% and 69.8% respectively. In terms of configuration, consumers center their concerns on the batteries, accounting for as much as 81.4%. Figure 2: Mobile Features Chinese Consumers are Concerned About Source: www.cqn.com.cn Figure 3: Mobile Configuration Chinese Consumers are Concerned About Source: www.cqn.com.cn In terms of mobile phones, users have short battery life, slow charging, unclear pictures, unsightly appearance, and other pain points. Aiming at solving these pain points, OPPO has improved its own technologies to meet the users’ needs for charging, photographing and appearance. OPPO applied its VOOC fast-charging technology to R9, R11 and R11s mobile phones. R9’s advertising slogan is “5 minutes charge, 2 hours call”, which is the direct embodiment of its selling point. VOOC fast-charging technology has solved users’ pain points of short battery life and slow charging. OPPO has never ceased to upgrade its technologies and products to satisfy the users’ photography needs. In 2012, OPPO developed U701, the first mobile phone with built-in selfie beautifying feature. In 2013, OPPO launched N1, a large-screen camera phone with a rotating camera, and R1, which featured night shots. In June 2017, OPPO launched R11, a mobile phone equipped with dual cameras with an advertising slogan of “dual 20MP cameras, greater clarity and brilliance”. In November the same year, OPPO launched R11s. R11s used 20MP+16MP intelligently-selecting dual rear cameras with dual f/1.7 large apertures. The main lens can be switched intelligently based on the lighting conditions for more natural portrait shots in the daytime and clearer portrait shots at night. In terms of selfies, R11s adopted brand new intelligent AI beautifying technology. Based on its collection of 254 facial feature points, OPPO R11s can intelligently analyze the gender, age, complexions, skin types and other information of the users. It can also provide users with the most suitable beautifying algorithms by combining all such information. “Absolute beauty” is the essence of the brand of OPPO. OPPO’s products always look stylish and exquisite. OPPO targets young people as its market. They are after fashion. A57, R9 and other OPPO mobile phones resemble iPhone in appearance, because iPhone represents and leads the current trend and fashion of mobile phones. OPPO released three versions of R11s – black, champagne and red. Red R11s has full-screen and starry-sky-screen design features. The subtly visible red halo makes the phone look more beautiful when the light of the screen is off, achieving the smoothest transition from the frame to the screen. OPPO never ceases to upgrade the technologies and features of its mobile phones. Whenever another mobile brand launches a new feature, OPPO will improve the functionality of its own mobile phones as soon as possible. When the “Raise to Wake” feature was launched in Apple’s iOS 10 system and the facial recognition feature was launched in iPhone X, OPPO followed suit and upgraded its own technologies. OPPO R11s has adopted brand new face recognition technology. By intelligently collecting a user’s 128 face recognition points, the recognition process can be done in only 0.08 seconds. The moment the screen is lightened, the phone will be unlocked. R11s also has the “Raise to Wake Up” feature. OPPO also launched a custom FC Barcelona edition mobile phone. OPPO and FCB Global Partnership Press Conference was held on September 8, 2015 in Beijing. At the conference, OPPO became an official partner of FC Barcelona, and launched the custom FC Barcelona edition of R7 Plus. In June 2016, OPPO launched a custom FC Barcelona edition of R9. In August 2017, OPPO launched a custom FC Barcelona limited edition of R11. This FC Barcelona limited edition of OPPO R11 features six major highlights: the FC Barcelona’s red and blue design, a 18K gold-plated emblem, two times more sophisticated technology, custom UI mobile theme, exclusive blue packaging and a case signed by FC Barcelona’s star players. OPPO R11 FC Barcelona custom edition adopted FC Barcelona’s signature colors – red and blue. By using the 3D surface “masking oxidation process”, R11 realized, for the first time, large areas of contrast colors of red and blue on its all-metal body and a gold ratio division by a 0.4mm line. Where red met blue, a 18K gold-plated emblem representing FC Barcelona’s spirit of glory was inlaid in a 3D manner. Gilt effects were added to the edges of the body and its rear camera, looking like crowns. In order for the red and blue dual-colored metal to blend perfectly with the antenna, OPPO R11 FC Barcelona limited edition tried the new “glue filling process”. The custom UI mobile theme featured red and blue. The lock screen wallpaper, home screen wallpaper, app icons and interface all featured FC Barcelona’s red and blue. 4.2.2 Price The price of OPPO mobile phones ranges from RMB1,000 to RMB3,500, standing in the mid-range and high-end prices. Among the same products of the mobile industry, the price of OPPO mobile phones is comparatively higher. Different series are priced differently. Series A mobile phones are priced between RMB1,000 to RMB2,100, while Series R mobile phones are priced between RMB2,500 to RMB3,500. In terms of the overall price strategy, the prices of OPPO mobile phones are unified across the country and are strictly regulated. This kind of strategy will not lead to different pricing by different channels or cause chaotic pricing. It helps the company manage the prices and also puts the consumer’s mind at ease. However, to some extent, it limits the sales of online channels. If a product is sold at the same price online and offline, consumers would prefer to try it in a physical store before purchasing. Table 3: OPPO Mobile Phone Price (The Monetary Unit of Price：RMB Yuan) Phone R15 R15 R11s R11s A3 A79 A73 A1 A83 Model (Black) (White) Plus (64G) (64G) (64G) (32G) Price 3499 2999 2799 2999 2099 1799 1599 1499 1299 Data sources: https://www.opposhop.cn/ (Price Statistics as of April 24, 2018) Form source: This Study Organized 4.2.3 Place OPPO uses a variety of mobile marketing channels. It cooperates with the operators, lets agents sell its phones, sets up OPPO stores, enters professional mobile chains and large-scale appliance chain enterprises, as well as establishes online marketing channels, satisfying the needs of different consumers (Wang, 2017).