Liu Bo, OPPO Vice President, President of China and President of Emerging Mobile Terminal Division
On April 9 this year, Liu Bo, a 15-year OPPO "veteran", was appointed as OPPO China The district president is fully responsible for the operation and brand building of the Chinese market, and reports to OPPO CEO Chen Mingyong. Previously, Liu Bo had been in charge of product, supply chain and IoT departments, etc., and OPPO only established a separate China region in April this year.
With this change, the industry has generally interpreted two major signals: First, the strategic position of OPPO China has been upgraded and strengthened. After all, since this year, Huawei (including Honor), which has been frustrated in overseas markets, has been aggressive in the domestic market. It is becoming more and more fierce, and the market share is growing rapidly, leading to more intense competition in the domestic market;
Secondly, Chen Mingyong hopes that this fierce general who has made "illustrious military exploits" will contribute to OPPO's "5G replacement war" in the country. "A strong start. Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, all mobile phone manufacturers are feeling the pressure, and the "5G replacement war" has really begun in this context. As 5G begins and 4G ends, various manufacturers will begin to compete for real estate.
On June 5, OPPO officially released the OPPO Reno4 series, which is also the first new product released by Liu Bo after taking charge of OPPO China. What is even more concerning is that OPPO’s Reno series was born out of OPPO’s popular R series in its early years. After being upgraded to the Reno series, it has always been OPPO’s most important “granary” product line. This means that whether Liu Bo can manage the Reno series well and keep the "granary" is crucial and cannot be missed.
OPPO China President Liu Bo
The Reno series is the most important "granary" in China, and the products will make consumers "wow"
June 4 , in interviews with media reporters including China Economic Weekly, Liu Bo did not evade or deny that he was under great pressure. This was also the first time he faced the media after taking office. "The Reno series is OPPO's most important price range product in China. What should we do? How to promote it? How to make consumers aware of it? How to let agents and dealers see it... These are indeed very important." Liu Bo said .
On June 5, OPPO Reno4 Pro and OPPO Reno4 were officially unveiled. The OPPO Reno4 series continues the product highlights of the Reno series with strong images and video breakthroughs. On the OPPO Reno4 Pro, it is even more flagship-level. Image configuration and new self-developed image algorithm, launch "super night scene video", hoping to become a new benchmark for 5G video mobile phones.
It is reported that OPPO Reno4 8GB 128GB is priced at 2,999 yuan, and 8GB 256GB is 3,299 yuan; OPPO Reno4 Pro’s 8GB 128GB version is priced at 3,799 yuan, and 12GB 256GB is priced at 4,299 yuan.
“The core point of OPPO’s products is to make products that make users feel ‘wow’, and make consumers’ hearts beat when they see them. For this reason, we have done it many, many times Innovation, and then innovate again on the basis of past innovations, this is our core design idea, which is also OPPO’s consistent thing.
Liu Bo said that he very much agrees with what management guru Peter Drucker said that the two most important things for a company are innovation and marketing. Youth will never change, the youth of OPPO users will never change, but the things young people like will change. OPPO’s idea is to always seize the most trendy and core things of this era through continuous innovation, such as lightness and thinness; and then market products through the increasingly obvious “decentralized media channels” in this era.
5G has resolutely turned around. There are no new 4G products this year, and all high, middle and low-end 5G lines
Before Liu Bo took over China, OPPO’s development in the beginning of 5G was subject to many doubts: such as the promotion of 5G The pace is not as active as that of its competitors, and there seems to be some hesitation; the overall shipment growth rate has slowed down, and the market share has declined; the Reno series is somewhat unclear after the upgrade...
For example, the R series has always been OPPO's hot product. , OPPO R9 has set a global single-unit shipment of 40 million units, and it still maintains the highest single-unit shipment record of Android phones. In April 2019, OPPO upgraded the R series to the Reno series, but the hot-selling myth did not continue.
“In our internal view, that is not a decline, it is called a pre-war adjustment. Today’s transition from 4G to 5G is the same as when we converted 2G to 3G and 3G to 4G. Generally, before the war, older generation products will be converted We deliberately kept things low and low to prepare for the war. In addition, the epidemic has indeed delayed the pace, but you will soon be able to see our results and strength in the performance of Reno4 and the products in the summer and second half of the year. Liu Bo responded.
Liu Bo revealed that OPPO’s overall product strategy is to use the Reno series as the most important granary product in China, focusing on the price segment with the largest 5G shipments; and to use the A series to create a lower market for the rapid popularization of 5G. Shen market; while Find X series products will insist on exploring the high-end.
As for the pace of advancement, Liu Bo said that OPPO’s strategy this year is to make a very decisive turn. “From now on, OPPO will have no new 4G products on the market in the Chinese market. We are very determined in this regard. Now OPPO’s products in the price range of 2,000-6,000 yuan are all 5G products, and we will soon see mid- to low-end products. All models are also equipped with 5G products,” he said.
OPPO Reno4, the first new product released after Liu Bo took charge of OPPO China, was unveiled
OPPO’s changes and unchanged
Liu Bo said that with the arrival of the 5G era, , many people will ask what exactly OPPO has changed? What remains unchanged?
Liu Bo believes that the core of OPPO is its duty, and the core of its duty is to grasp the essence of things. "Every company has its own advantages. The characteristic of OPPO is that we will follow our own path, the path that suits us, and the path that we think is best for consumers," he said.
In Liu Bo’s view, OPPO has decided to move from China to the world and become a global company. This is a change for OPPO. After several years of deployment, OPPO has made great progress in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central and Eastern Africa, North Africa, and Europe, and has also made arrangements in many global regions and markets such as Australia and Japan.
But what remains unchanged is that in every overseas market, OPPO still needs to be a local company and let the local decide local things. "During this process, it may seem that the surface has changed, but the essence and core remain unchanged." Liu Bo said.
Another example is the development and integration of online and offline channels. OPPO used to have very strong offline resources, which was one of the key factors for OPPO's past success. However, the rise of online channels and changes in offline consumption trends are driving new changes.
“From a strategic perspective, OPPO does not pay special attention to distinguishing between online and offline channels; from a product perspective, OPPO will not make such a distinction. Indeed, online and offline consumption The needs and experiences of users are slightly different, but the core things are actually not that big of a difference," Liu Bo said.
But OPPO also has insights into some trends. For example, people in mid- and high-tier cities will go to Shopping Malls more, and people increasingly like to visit specialty stores; but in low-tier markets, a large number of mobile phones are scattered The store is still mainstream.
“Shopping Mall stores in mid- and high-tier cities are definitely the focus of OPPO’s future development. Currently, OPPO has more than 600 Shopping Mall stores across the country, and there will be more in the future, and they will be all-scenario , all-round experience stores; while mobile phone stores in lower-tier cities are very scattered but have huge volumes, this is where OPPO was strong in the past, and we will continue to invest in it,” Liu Bo revealed.