The Greater Bay Area: A Senior Movement

Doro provides value-added consumer solutions for senior citizens in the form of easy-to-use phones and connectivity services. It is not hard to see that the events of 2020 provide the Swedish company with an opportunity to help senior citizens around the world manage their lives a little more easily, helping them keep in touch with family, friends or caregivers, or to simply catch up on the news.

GBA Production

China’s Greater Bay Area (GBA) is central to achieving those aims, according to Krokstäde, principally because the bulk of Doro's products are manufactured at production facilities in Southern China – primarily in Shenzhen and Dongguan – where the Scandinavian smart-tech firm has established partnerships and relationships over a number of years.

Doro’s products are sold in more than 40 countries on five continents via an extensive network of leading telecom operators, specialists, and retailers with strong distribution channels to end-customers, says Krokstäde. “Our biggest markets are Europe and the US. We usually sell to operators in different countries – for example, Orange is our biggest customer. Last year we sold about four million phones worldwide.

“The bulk of our manufacturing partners are in the GBA, where we handle about 40 production factories and which includes everything from very simple processes to very advanced. We are mostly in Shenzhen and Dongguan where we co-operate with partners on the development of products, from the simplest of add-ons to existing solutions to sophisticated new products,” he adds.

Doro aims to leverage its relationships to continue its growth in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region, which is on the cusp of a new economic era following the unveiling in February 2019 by the Central Government of the outline plan for the GBA initiative. This aims to transform a geographical area, which takes in Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions (SARs) plus nine other cities in the PRD.

The transformation of the region – which encapsulates a massive market of 70 million potential customers with a combined GDP of US$1.6 trillion – is part of a global vision that is also connected to China’s bold aim of creating an inter-linked world through the wider Belt and Road Initiative, its ambitious infrastructure development and trade facilitation programme, which it hopes will establish long-lasting economic ties to its closest neighbours and worldwide partners.

Huge Potential

The explosive growth of the world’s elderly population obviously includes China, of which Doro is well aware, and most of them will at some point need support in keeping up with technical developments and exploring new and convenient services. Krokstäde says that in Guangzhou alone, 1.5 million people are over 65, and that figure jumps to 10 million in the GBA as a whole.

Doro has so far been unable to utilise its business model to reach those potential customers, sticking for now to its extensive production and product development strategy when it comes to the region. But Krokstäde says that while the company’s GBA focus has historically been on production for sales to Europe, the US and the wider world, Doro would like to enter the phone-sales market in mainland China, which had so far proved to be difficult.

“We hope we can find a way into the mainland China market in terms of selling our phones, but right now, the barriers like licensing, the risks of joint ventures and partnerships have made that difficult. It’s a situation we hope will change as the GBA plan develops and matures.”

Hong Kong Partnership

An example of Doro’s ability to work with partners was a deal the company struck several years ago with Hong Kong’s Senior Citizen Home Safety Association, in which its technology was used to help one of the city’s most established social enterprises to provide a Care-On-Call Service offering 24/7 assistance, support and emergency help to the local elderly.

Central to Doro’s strategy is the offer of smart technology that enables seniors to live active, safe and independent lives, says Krokstäde, adding: “Our solutions are positive for both seniors and their relatives, as well as benefitting society at large. With an eco-system of intelligent and smart products and services, we create greater security.”

For example, on Doro handsets, including the interactive voice navigation-enabled Doro 8080, there are three large icons on the home screen: Call, View and Send. Tapping one of these icons calls up a series of actions such as ‘call a contact’, ‘view a photo taken on the phone or a web page’, or ‘send a message or video taken on the phone’. Doro service applications can be used on iPhone and Android phones and linked to their call centres.

Measure of Success

A measure of the quality Doro is committed to came in February when its ground-breaking Eliza system was recognised as a product of outstanding design at the iF Design Awards 2020 in Hamburg, Germany.

Doro Eliza is a unique, highly versatile smart care hub designed to deliver the best possible security and reliability to users, alarm receiving centres and service providers alike. The company says it raises the bar in the field of Technology Enabled Care (TEC).

Eliza integrates with new digital infrastructures and a full range of compatible telecare devices and sensors such as smoke detectors and a Doro designed and manufactured waterproof radio trigger. In addition to long-term reliability and cost efficiency, service providers will also enjoy simple, accurate and swift monitoring and administration at their fingertips with the help of Doro’s service providers, the company says.

Doro also partners with globally recognised McKinsey Design – part of McKinsey & Company – working to solve some of the world’s most complex and important challenges. Describing how the partnership is a marriage of creative talent and McKinsey’s proven strategic, analytical and technical capabilities, Krokstäde says: “The result is extraordinary experiences, products and services that delight people, drive growth, and creates change that matters for our clients, their communities and in turn for society.”

Krokstäde believes that the know-how Doro has acquired over many years of producing TEC products in the GBA will support its future business expansion, saying: “The most appealing opportunities are those that come about through the willingness and ability of senior citizens to spend to improve independence, security and sense of being to the society – just like everyone else.”

In fact, the challenge of an ageing population is no difference in the GBA – people are living longer and many want to continue to stay at home for as long as possible. This, says Krokstäde, makes him believe that Doro is ready to replicate its success in other markets to support the senior, local authorities and caregivers in the GBA, should the phone-sales market there becomes more open as the initiative further develops.