Nokia may have to spend a lot to educate the consumers about the quality of its products. Even the retailers need the education. This is in consequence to the poor performance of the company during the first quarter.
The operating loss of Nokia for the quarter was €1.34 billion. The sales dropped by 29% to €7.35 billion. According to Stephen Elop, the CEO of Nokia, selling Lumia products in the UK was really challenging.
Nokia released Lumia products incorporating Microsoft Operating System with the hope of achieving tremendous sales. But it did not happen.
According to Malik Saadi, Informa principal analyst, Nokia is at a disadvantage because its high end devices are no match for Samsung or Apple smartphones.
The first challenge for Nokia is to drive the set across the operator’s channels. Simply by stocking too may sets in the operators’ stores will not generate consumer demand. Proper strategies have to be adopted to enhance marketing; efficient sales personnel, with proper education about the products, have to be entrusted the task by the operators etc. All these will involve expenditure.
Nokia also need the assistance and support of Microsoft who should canvass for their operating system.
According to Tony Cripps, the principal analyst for devices and platforms at Ovum, Nokia’s problem is related to consumer awareness. The products may be as good as that of Apple, Google or Samsung. With consumer awareness and sound marketing tactics the consumers can be made to go in for Nokia rather than other companies. The carriers, especially those in the Europe must help the Finnish company in this respect instead of allowing the consumers to depend on the dominance of Apple and Google.
