Sell mobile phones to the whole world, and then?
Domestic mobile phones going global are achieving increasingly remarkable results.
According to IDC data, in 2024, the global smartphone shipment volume was approximately 1.24 billion units, with a year-on-year growth of 6.4%, rebounding after two years of decline.
Among them, the performance of Chinese mobile phone manufacturers going global is extremely outstanding. While the market shares of brands such as Apple and Samsung have declined, Chinese smartphone manufacturers have ushered in a strong growth - in the fourth quarter of 2024, the shipment volume of domestic smartphones accounted for 56% of the global market share, firmly establishing a significant presence.
In particular, the leading companies going global represented by Huawei have long sold their products in Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America, and other places, becoming a truly global brand.
However, with the further opening of the international market, challenges follow one after another.
The first and foremost is the after-sales, repair, and maintenance of electronic products - even with an extremely low repair ratio of 5%, Chinese mobile phone manufacturers will face an overseas after-sales service challenge of nearly tens of millions of units per year. If daily repair and maintenance such as film application, screen replacement, and battery replacement are taken into consideration, this number will be even higher.
Cultural barriers, differences in user habits, parts and supply chain, cross-border repair and loss assessment...
It is a big problem for both overseas customers who buy mobile phones and domestic manufacturers who sell them.
Where in the World Do People Love to Repair Mobile Phones the Most?
In the domestic electronic product repair and maintenance market, it was also chaotic in the early years. From Zhongguancun in Beijing to Huaqiangbei in Shenzhen, there are both myths of prosperity and a lot of user complaints. However, in recent years, with the continuous standardization and improvement of the market, it has now entered a comprehensive and clear governance stage.
However, once in overseas markets with different cultures, languages, and user habits, both new and old problems will simultaneously emerge:
1. Lack of localized supply chain, and incomplete technical standards and parts reserves;
2. Inconsistent service standards at home and abroad, and time-consuming and labor-intensive cross-border identification and repair;
3. Non-official repair points have opaque prices, and there is information asymmetry in the purchase channels and accessory sources;
4. Cultural and consumption habits are different, and localized services are insufficient.
However, accompanied by these difficulties and challenges is the surging demand for electronic product repair from overseas users.
According to data from market research firm Future Market Insight, in 2018, the global electronic equipment repair service industry market size reached 97.46 billion US dollars, and it soared to 129.44 billion US dollars in 2023 after nearly five years; it is expected that this market will continue to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.3%, reaching 238.45 billion US dollars by 2033.
Future Market Insight "Analysis, Growth and Forecast of the Electronic Equipment Repair Market 2023 - 2033"
Currently, along with the economic downturn in some parts of the world, and as many developing countries have a higher acceptance of important electronic items, the demand for new and refurbished devices such as laptops and mobile phones has surged, driving the rapid growth of the global electronic product repair market.
It is worth mentioning that regarding the question "Where in the World Do People Love to Repair Mobile Phones the Most?", the answer may be somewhat surprising: Europe.
According to Future Market Insight data, in 2022, the European market accounted for 27.7% of the global electronic equipment repair service market, making it the largest market globally; the North American region followed closely, with a market share of 23.5%.
The main reason why "Europeans and Americans love to repair mobile phones" is that in Europe, North America, and other places, the repair price of electronic products is extremely high. Sometimes, the price of repairing a mobile phone can even reach about 70% of a new phone, and the repair period of local repair shops often lasts for more than a week.
Image source: @momo
Expensive, slow, and troublesome - these are the most prominent user pain points in overseas electronic product repairs.
In order to provide a better service experience for both new and old overseas customers, In the fourth quarter of 2024, Huawei launched a Service Appreciation and Feedback Season campaign in 26 countries overseas, covering services such as free labor for repairs, free film application, free PC system renewal, and free gifts for repairs.
These 26 countries and regions not only cover France, Spain, the Philippines, and Malaysia, but also include Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, the United Arab Emirates, and other places.
Huawei Overseas Service Appreciation and Feedback Season Campaign Page
For example, in places like Europe, due to the high cost of electronic product repairs, Huawei's services such as free labor for repairs and free PC system renewal during the Service Appreciation and Feedback Season have been highly praised locally.
More interestingly, during the Appreciation and Feedback Season, a hardcore French "Huawei Fan" was encountered in the offline store of the Huawei Service Center in France.
This Frenchman is a loyal user of the Huawei brand. He originally planned to buy a MateBook 16 laptop in France for work, but unfortunately, this product is no longer sold in France, so he had to travel to Germany to purchase it.
However, after the purchase, due to the different settings of the German and French keyboards, it caused great inconvenience in his daily work. Therefore, he came to the Huawei Service Center in France for help, with a try-it-out mentality to ask if he could buy a new keyboard.
However, due to the lack of keyboard spare parts in France, after communicating and discussing with the user, the engineer immediately removed the French-specific keys from the old keyboard for replacement, and at the same time, adjusted the system keyboard to French, ultimately adjusting the entire computer to be perfectly adapted to French operations.
The speed of problem-solving and the degree of attentiveness in service were highly appreciated by the user. Later, he specially returned to the Huawei Service Center in France and brought a bottle of red wine to the engineer to express his gratitude.
Image source: Visual China
A similar story also occurred in Saudi Arabia. In the Middle East, the smartphone market has witnessed a strong growth of up to 20%, and Chinese mobile phones are particularly popular. In an environment of diversified consumption, both "luxury phones" and "cost-effective phones" have their own favored user groups.
In the Huawei service store in Saudi Arabia, after the local staff quickly helped the customer solve the problem, that evening, the customer returned to the store with snacks and desserts, insisting on inviting all the staff in the store to enjoy them as a token of gratitude.
In addition, in other countries and regions, the user habits and market characteristics are also different.
For example, in places like Bangkok and Jakarta in Southeast Asia, there is a complete mobile phone parts market, which can be called the "Thai version of Huaqiangbei" and the "Vietnamese version of Huaqiangbei". At the same time, the demand for mobile phone film application is extremely high. On various short-video platforms, one can always see the on-site mobile phone film application services under rows of small lamps in the crowded summer night markets.
Image source: @Thai Bone-level Player Sebas
Therefore, during this Huawei Service Appreciation and Feedback Season, the free film application service has become one of the biggest highlights of the campaign in Southeast Asia.
In the Mal Taman Anggrek Service Center in Indonesia, a loyal Huawei customer took out three classic Huawei devices that have accompanied him for many years - HUAWEI P30 Pro, P10 Lite, and Honor 3C, hoping to have screen protectors applied.
However, these are older devices with a longer release date, and there are no protective film reserves for this model in the local area. The staff at the Huawei store in Indonesia innovatively used a screen protector cutting device to custom-make perfectly fitting protective films for the three devices and also gave a free gift for the repair service, making this "long-time Huawei Fan" feel the consistent care and attention from Huawei.
Caring, Heartwarming, and Globally Unified
During the Huawei Appreciation and Feedback Season campaign in 26 countries around the world, there are many similar small stories.
In Dubai, the UAE service team detailed the functions and usage features of the Huawei Mate XT triple-folding phone to Indian-Zimbabwean entrepreneur and private jet tycoon Ameerh Naran - this phone is a gift from the CEO of Amazon Hong Kong to Mr. Ameerh.
In Colombia, the customer Diana's Huawei computer, which broke down due to a software problem a long time ago, also enjoys the free labor for repair treatment.
Media coverage of the Huawei Appreciation and Feedback Season campaign in the Philippines, Egypt, and other places
Huawei is one of the earliest consumer electronics brands in China to successfully go global and has many years of accumulation in overseas user services.
In 2024, Huawei released a total of 19 new mobile phones. According to Counterpoint data, in the 2024 Chinese mobile phone market sales ranking, Huawei ranked second with a market share of 16.3%.
As electronic devices play an increasingly important role in people's lives, people's reliance on mobile phones, PCs, and tablets is also increasing. At this time, if encountering tricky problems such as a cracked screen or accidental water ingress, it will have a great impact on the user's work and life.
The significance of the Huawei Appreciation and Feedback Season campaign is to enable Huawei users in any corner of the world to enjoy the caring companionship of Huawei services and to solve problems for every Huawei user with practical actions.
Overseas user feedback during the Huawei Appreciation and Feedback Season
Currently, brand going global is the general trend. However, selling products to overseas users is only the first step. To truly gain the trust of users and establish a deep recognition, it relies on the thoughtful and heartwarming user services after the products are sold.
Not only in the overseas market, but also in China, Huawei holds regular activities such as Huawei Service Day and Huawei Service Feedback Courtesy every year. No matter where the users are, they can easily find the nearest Huawei service store to enjoy repairs, maintenance, discounts, and other exclusive benefits and services.
For example, during the Huawei Service Feedback Courtesy at the end of 2024, more than 2,100 Huawei authorized service centers and more than 20,000 service pick-up points were fully activated across the country, covering 92% of prefecture-level cities and 99% of county-level areas. From Lhasa in the snowy plateau to Hainan in the sunny south, from the northeastern forest area to the Jiangnan water town, the Huawei service network weaves not only a business map, but also the responsibility and warmth of a new era domestic brand. Over the years, in the warm service, users have increasingly supported and trusted Huawei.
Today, when the global industrial competition has shifted from a "hard power" contest to a "soft power" game, the evolution of Huawei's service system reveals the deep logic of the globalization of Chinese brands - true globalization is not a simple market expansion, but through continuous value creation, cultivating a common emotional identity in different cultural soils.
This "Chinese solution" with service as the carrier is redefining the brand globalization paradigm in the digital economy era. When the warmth of technology can cross mountains and seas, and when the promise of service can penetrate languages, domestic brands will eventually shine with a unique humanistic brilliance on the world stage.
Based on the global perspective, serving the world, with unified standards, and warm and professional services.
This is the warmth and responsibility that a truly world-class brand should have.
This article is from the WeChat official account "36Kr", and 36Kr is authorized to publish it.