National Store, the flagship company of JK Group, has announced its partnership with French smartphone brand, Wiko, to act as the exclusive distributor for the brand in the UAE market. With regional headquarters in the country, the brand entered UAE in October 2014. Since then it has been going strong in the region, registering sustainable growth and market reach. Through this partnership, National Store will carry out the ground sales and distribution operations for Wiko across all its outlets in the UAE. This will assist the brand in its country-wide expansion as well as in further strengthening its visibility.
Having registered its presence in more than 30 countries across the world within a short span of time, Wiko entered the top five in Western Europe in 2016. In France, it is in the number two position in the open market and is also successful in other European markets, where it has managed to climb to second position. The mobile phone brand has shipped out more than 10 million phones globally in 2016, with more than 15 million users worldwide.
Besides the 3G and feature phones offered by the mobile company, National Store will be showcasing the latest range of Wiko smartphones, including Highway Pure, one of the world’s slimmest and lightest 4G phone, and Wiko-Fever, a glow in the dark phone. The distributors will also market accessories, such as WiSHAKE, both the wireless and wired headphones, earphones, Bluetooth speakers; WiMATE Smartband; car chargers; power banks; among other products.
Propelled by its success in the European market, Wiko has a growing international presence in Africa and Middle East, where it is in 7 countries with the latest opening in Ghana. In 2014, it launched in Vietnam and built up its major presence in Thailand. One year later, it opened in Indonesia. Then in 2016, Malaysia joined the Wiko universe, and most recently, Japan.
Salah Khoory, General Manager, National Store Jk Group, said: “Partnering with Wiko is a part of National Store’s future strategy to diversify the business of the company, while creating a strong base in the mobile and IT category. Wiko is a young and fresh brand with a lot of potential which will add a strong new category to the company’s portfolio. The brand is already very well presented in the individual retail channel. Therefore, our aim is to further fortify its visibility in this segment and then move into increasing its presence through power retailers.”
Commenting on the partnership, Didier Carmeille, Regional Director MENA region for Wiko said: “We aim to reach out to the entire UAE market and be present in every nook and corner of the country. To achieve this, a very strong and professional distributor partner is required and National Store was a natural choice, as they have vast experience in mobile sales. They are already into sales and distribution of a mobile brand and also have very strong relations with all the retailers because they carry some renowned non-mobile brands. Wiko came to UAE with an ambition of achieving 10% of the market share. This ambition continues for us and with the right partnership with National Store, and the right products at the right price, we expect to achieve it very soon.”
Explaining the retail philosophy of the brand, Kashif Siddiqui, Head of Sales Wiko, UAE said: “We believe in maintaining the right balance in the pricing and product mix to avoid major fluctuations in pricing during the product’s life cycle, thus giving stability to both retailers and consumers. In the UAE, Wiko has succeeded to position itself as a challenger brand, which combines the product and service quality of any top brand in this market, and keeps the prices as competitive as smaller brands. It thus manages to hold a distinctive position between the top brands and tier 2 brands and is seen by customers as value for money brand.
As distributors and retailers, National Store has had a successful run for almost half a century showcasing brands such as Canon, Sandisk, Moser, Crown Line, KZEN and GP Batteries, among others. The company launched an outlet in Khalidyah Mall, Abu Dhabi, last year, and has a number of expansion plans in the future.
National store has three main divisions namely Photo-Video Division, Electronic and Media Division through which it represents well-known brands like Canon, Sandisk, Moser, Crown Line as well as KZEN & GP Batteries amongst others.
