MUMBAI: Chinese technology player LeEco launched its ecosystem membership program along with its latest smartphone Le 1s Eco in India yesterday. The announcement was made in collaboration with Eros Now, YuppTV and Hungama at an event in Mumbai, along with youth heartthrobs Siddharth Malhotra and Jacqueline Fernandez.
The company has plans to produce its own content for India. According to LeEco Smart Electronics India COO Atul Jain, “I think we will roll it out in phases. As we go deeper in the content space, producing our own content is an option we are considering. But the easier option in the first few months as a ‘go to to a new market’ is tie-ups. That is why we are currently investing in developing strong partnerships in this market and soon we will get in the content business like we do in China. We are taking one step at a time. That will be phase two for us. By the end of the financial year we might have something coming out of our own production pipeline.”
That LeEco, like all the other mobile devices companies from across the world, is going all out to woo Indian customers to buy its products is very obvious. LeEco Content VP for APAC William Lee said, “Today we launched our innovative LeEco membership program with partnerships with Eros Now, Hungama and YuppTV. LeEco is the sole company that delivers a membership program which integrates terminals, clouds and applications in India. Indian Superfans can enjoy more than 2,000 movie titles through Le Vidi, over 100 TV channels via Le Live, and 2.5 million music tracks under LeEco membership."
The Chinese company also launched a ‘Supertainment’ package which will be available for Rs 10,899, including Le 1s Eco for Rs 9,999 and a one-year membership fee of Rs 4,900, and a LeEco offer of Rs 4,000. For the first flash sale on Flipkart at 2pm on May 12th, LeEco will offer the Supertainment package at Rs 9,999.
Speaking about the Supertainment package, Jain said, “To cope with LeEco membership program, we introduce a special 'Made for India' superphone, Le 1s Eco, the first of its kind of integrating a content ecosystem. Le 1s Eco will redefine entertainment in the country. With this blockbuster superphone, we live up to our promise of offering the best value, breakthrough technology and great features at a disruptive price."
Besides aiming to provide users with rich and high quality content, the company says that its membership program also integrates comprehensive eco-services like personal clouding services -LeEco Drive, LeMall and aftersales services. In 2015, LeEco global membership revenue reached to $417 million, top of its kind in the industry. The membership program provides users a seamless and extreme experience based on LeEco terminals, clouds, and applications, and will include more quality content and eco-services thanks to the company's business growth in India.
Given the high decibel launch that LeEco had for its ‘Supertainment’ membership, one can’t help but wonder about its marketing strategy to take the buzz further. “We will continue our strategy of reaching out to consumers and users through print and digital for quite some time. Once we are more widely available we will look into going into TV,” revealed Jain.
After its Le 1s bagged the ‘online top-selling’ tag having sold over 200,000 items in just 30 days, LeEco is now eyeing to enter the retail market as well. It would have its own brick and mortar stores by June 2016, informed Jain, to showcase and hawk an array of existing and new products that will be launched in the coming months.
Currently Madison World handles the media account for LeEco while Leo Burnett’s Orchard Advertising Bengaluru does its creative work.
