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Manufacturers
July 23, 2020
TCL’s UK distribution is handled by Eurostar Global and Data Select
TCL is avoiding targeting a specific UK market share for its new device range, according to UK and Ireland country director William Paterson.
The Alcatel and Vodafone Smart device licensee made its UK own-brand debut in June with the TCL 10 series, having originally intended to do so in April.
That made it the first smartphone vendor to launch an entirely new brand in the UK during the national lockdown.
Rather than go after a specific market share, Paterson is looking to ensure that the brand shows longevity with its respective partners.
“I won’t say we’re targeting five per cent of the market or anything like that, because very often a lot of that can be outside your control,” Paterson told Mobile News. “The market has a number of vendors that all do different things.
“What I would say is we take it a step at a time. Are we happy with the way we’ve launched? Yes. Are we happy with what’s coming up? Yes, then we’ll move into next year. Success is not so much what we sell today, but about the next family of products. If we get them ranged by the same number of customers, it means the products work well, and our channels are happy with it, and that to me is success.”
TCL’s UK retail partners include EE, Tesco Mobile, Amazon and Argos, while distribution is handled by Eurostar and Data Select.
According to IDC, Alcatel shipped 132,000 smart and feature phones in the UK in the first quarter of 2020, making it the fifth-largest brand in the UK’s mobile market.
“As far as we’re concerned, the market never fell off a cliff, so I think it’s done OK,” added Paterson. “We traded really well in Q2 and we altered communications quite a bit on the Alcatel brand, focusing quite a lot on e-commerce partners; we were pleased with performance