“Despite the setbacks of the pandemic, realme Sri Lanka is bullish on local smart-userstrends,’’ Shawn Yan, Marketing Manager

realme will continue to promote the affordable innovation initiative for Sri Lankan youth

realme, one of the fastest growing smartphone brands portrayed into Sri Lankan market in November 2020. Despite the setbacks of the pandemic and challenging market dynamics, brand is buoyant of its future with the tech-savvy local youth and pursues Sri Lanka as a key emerging market in the South Asian region

1. What was the potential you saw in Sri Lankan market when you launched in December （November）2020 in Sri Lanka?

 A：With the development of telecommunication technologies around the globe and Sri Lankan consumers adopting new technologies, we have observed eagerness to experience the smart devices with high-level innovation. Even though, in comparison to some Asian markets Sri Lanka is yet to uptake its smartphone consumption numbers, and feature phones still being a predominant choice out of Colombo, we do believe the rate of conversion is increasing rapidly. Therefore, we believe in near future the service providers will shift from 2G, 3G and 4G networks to high performing 5G technologies. That possibility itself creates opportunities for the market growth in smart phone industry.

In addition, we have also observed young generation in Sri Lanka are tech-savvy and they opt for  smart phones as an essential item, in that light, as a smart phone and AIOT devices brand which represent the young generation's choice, realmedecided that it is essential that we bridge that needs gap and open doors for the Sri Lankan youth to experience new technologies via providing a range of smartphones and lifestyle technology devices with premium specs, quality, and trend-setting designs  at affordable prices.

2. As a smartphone brand in a saturated market dynamic, what is your competitive edge?

A： Even though, relatively new to the industry, realme has been extremely well positioned amongst our target audiences thatit has become the fastest growing brand since its launch across globe. Therefore, as a global emerging consumer technology company, we are disrupting the smartphone and AIoT market by ensuring that cutting-edge technologies are more accessible to our consumers. Same philosophy has been applied here in Sri Lanka and realme is posed to cater to the Sri Lankan youth's needs bybringing in innovative smart devices to the consumers.

3. Having entered local market in the backdrop of the pandemic what were the strategies and other areas of business realme used？

A： Pandemic situation has been tough for everyone, and it has been an enormous challenge for all industries to continue usual business as there were obvious possibility of economic casualties. With the situation escalating with pandemic curfew, lock-down as well as travel restrictions becoming normalized, we as a smart mobile vendor were affected. However, we remained resilient and focused our attention on how we could enable sustainable technological transgression among Sri Lankan youth at the backdrop of increasing online study and online work from home requirements. Though, market dynamics are challenging,realme cares about consumers' requirements and will continue to provide devices with affordable prices and service.

4. Is it possible to share your views on the brand performance in the first half of 2021 and the new sales channels you used?

 A：As the fastest growing brand globally, realmeachieved comparative success in Sri Lankan market as well with the ever-increasing product awareness amongst young consumers of Sri Lanka. realme launched many devices to the market including smart phones such asrealme C series: C11, C12, C15, C20, C11-2021, realme number series: realme 7 and realme 8; AIOT such as smart audio devices including realme Buds Q, Buds Q2, Buds Air 2, Buds Air 2 Neo, Wireless 2 Neo; smart wearable devices like realme watch 2. As such,realme has successfully cooperated with distribution partners such asAbans, Singhagiri, Dialog, Seetha channels within few months, as well as with over 1000 dealersislandwide, with authorized dealership promoting realme.

5. What are thefuture plans in store for realmeSri Lanka?

 A: "1+5+T" is the plan of realme, 1 smartphone - center of its AIoT ecosystem with 5 key categories for realme’sAIoT products, including the True Wireless Stereo (TWS), Wearables, TV, tablets and and Laptops.T stands for TechLife, realme’s open partner platform, which aims to support innovative and dynamic AIoT startups through the sharing of realme’s own sales channels and supply chains. Connecting the dots is the realme Link Apprealme Sri Lanka would work to bring in the overall 1+5+T experience of realme to Sri Lanka, enabling true essence of realme ecosystem in the country in near future.