Why The Question Still Matters
Smartphone share keeps rising, but keypad handsets have not gone away in the markets Golden Berry serves. They hold the lowest price point, they run for days between charges, and they are bought as first phones, as second phones and as replacements when a smartphone breaks.
A price list built only from Android handsets misses the band that turns over fastest. A price list built only from keypad phones misses every customer upgrading. Most working shelves carry both.
What Pushes Volume Toward Keypad Handsets
Price is the obvious driver, but it is not the only one. Battery endurance matters where mains power is unreliable. Physical keys matter for customers with poor eyesight, for customers working with gloves or wet hands, and for anyone who has never used a touchscreen.
Durability matters too. A keypad handset has a smaller screen and usually a thicker shell, which means fewer cracked displays coming back over the counter.
What Pushes Volume Toward Android
Messaging and social applications are the main reason customers move up. Once a customer needs a specific app, a keypad phone stops being an option regardless of price.
Camera use is the second driver. Photographing stock, documents and daily life is now an everyday expectation rather than a premium feature.
A Practical Way To Split The Shelf
Start from the price points your customers actually pay rather than from the technology. List the three or four prices that account for most of your turnover, then decide what a customer at each price expects to get.
Fill the lowest price with a keypad handset that has a colour display and a camera, because a colour screen is now the minimum expectation even at the bottom of the range. Fill the next price with a compact Android handset, because that is the natural upgrade for a customer coming off a keypad phone. Put a dual camera model above it, and finish with one halo model that sets the ceiling.
How The Golden Berry Range Maps Onto That
The keypad band is covered by GB Mini, GB mini Dark Grey, GB Junior, GB Junior Golden and GB Junior Black, which gives a compact body and a larger keypad body in three finishes.
The Android band runs GB for a large screen entry position, GB1401 for a compact position, GB PLUS for a dual camera mid position in two finishes, and GB Pro at the top with a dual camera and a rear fingerprint reader.
Mistakes Worth Avoiding
Do not stock two handsets at the same price point from different suppliers. You will end up discounting one of them.
Do not assume the cheapest handset is the highest volume. In many markets the second cheapest sells more, because customers step up one level when the difference is small.
Do not leave a gap between your keypad price and your first Android price. If the jump is too large the upgrade sale stalls.
