I’ve been contacted by a girl from the Salt Lake City several weeks ago. She attends a business school and had an assignment on starting an export business in China. Since China is well-known for copying stuff and she is a regular reader of my blog, she decided to get in touch with me, hoping for some interesting information. Unfortunately, I could not really add anything to the stuff that I had written in my Online Business with VERTU Replicas post. But I quickly got on the phone with Lux-Replica-Phones and mailed VertuBoutique.com and tried to arrange for interviews with their CEOs. I’ve not mailed/called any other replica company since they’re all managed from inside the US. Both VertuBoutique and Lux-Replica-Phones.com are managed from inside China, and that’s what we needed.
The first ones to have given a positive response were Lux-Replica-Phones.com. We quickly scheduled an online interview with Mr. Morgan Lanton, CEO of Lux-Replica-Phones.com (sorry Gary, I’ll get some Support School attendee to interview you next time 
). The interview was recorded and transcribed. I’ve deleted some of the not really interesting stuff that their conversation contained. So, without further ado, here is the interview between Carla Allen and Morgan Lanton, CEO of Lux-Replica-Phones. We will look into the mind of the man who has created one of the most successful VERTU replica businesses today. We’ll find out more about about his company and about the VERTU replica business today and his experiences and influences.
Carla::: How are you doing today, Mr.Lanton? I’m so thankful for the opportunity to talk to you on Skype today. Could you begin by giving me an introduction on the business you do?
Morgan Lanton:::Hello Carla, I am doing quite well. I run Lux-Replica-Phones.com, quite a successful company that manufactures and sells high quality VERTU replica phones all around the world. We produce most of the VERTU phone ranges, including the Ascent Ti, Ferrari, and Signature ranges, that we sell online at wholesale and retail prices.Carla::: I see. What gave you the idea to get into this business in the first place?
Morgan Lanton::: I was meeting up with my friend in Los Angeles. He was a wealthy man and I noticed he had an impressive looking phone. He showed it to me and told me it was a VERTU Ascent Ti phone. He also told me it cost $8,000. I was pretty shocked. I thought, that a phone like that can be certainly made for much cheaper so that anyone could own one. After doing some research, I found a factory in Hong Kong that manufactured the VERTU Constellation (the V9) phones. I made a deal with the factory manager and ended up moving to Hong Kong starting the company that you see today. A few months later I managed to rent a factory in Shenzhen, China (a few hours drive from Hong Kong) and our very own production line started.Carla:::Could you please illustrate the business world of VERTU replica phones and other replica phones in general?
Morgan Lanton::: I am not alone in striving to produce copies of expensive phones at an affordable price. There are dozens of such companies around the world. Every company is very different, despite the fact that a number of them produce the same phones. This leaves the customers with a number of companies to choose from, and sometimes they don’t know which company to pick. Usually when we’ve had customers come to us after purchasing from other companies, they’ve had complains about those companies. The complaints ranged from poor or no customer service and poor quality of the phones to never even getting the phones to problems with communication due to the fact that in China people speak Chinese. I myself have had huge problems in understanding the dealers in China, until I hired a young interpreter, Ling, who still works for me.Carla::: What kind of people do you think VERTU replica phones appeal to?
Morgan Lanton::: Classy people, people that like luxury but cannot afford to spend thousands on the real thing. Business people also are attracted to these types of phones. Now, more then ever, people are buying these phones in bulk to resell them. Also, some people may already own the real thing but either do not want to carry one around for risk of losing it or for getting it scratched, etc from normal use. I personally would feel much safer losing a phone that costs a couple hundred rather then one that costs a couple of thousand. In fact, I would be constantly worried if I had to carry a multi-thousand dollar phone around with me.Carla::: How do you think the world of VERTU replica phones has changed in the last 4 years?
Morgan Lanton::: The phones have gained popularity and are talked about a lot now. They have become cheaper, more precise, better in quality. There was also a major change regarding IMEI codes. To fight replica companies, IMEI codes get reported in an attempt to shut down all phones. Before, if one IMEI code got reported, all phones would get shut down. Companies such as ours developed a countermeasure in the form of using different and random IMEI codes on every phone. In this case, if one IMEI code gets reported, only that phone gets shut down and the rest are unaffected. The world of VERTU replica phones has been greatly affected by the recent finical crisis, but according to our statistics there are still many people interested on getting their hands on these phones. The crisis has slowed down business, but not too much.Carla::: How do you think the company that produces the real VERTU phones feels about the rise of companies that sell VERTU replicas?
Morgan Lanton::: Well to be honest, I doubt they’re too happy about it. The replicas look exactly the same as the real ones, but yet are much cheaper, so more people will buy replicas, and even many of the people who have thought about purchasing the real ones realize that it is simply better to buy the replica. However, we may in fact be considered a benefit. For example, people that already own the real thing may need a replica for everyday use to avoid the risks of carrying and using an uber-expensive phone. Our phones also serve as a “test ground” for people interested in buying the real thing. For a small amount of money they can get a taste of the real phones to see if this is what they want before spending a considerable sum of money. And the advertising, we actively advertise on a whole range of resources, which makes VERTU much more known.Carla::: What is the scope of your business today?
Morgan Lanton::: We successfully sell phones all over the world. Our customer service team works around the clock to make sure that every customer receives his/her phone and that they are satisfied with the product. Constant new additions and improvements to our phones leave the customers with plenty of choices for the phone they want. New additions, improvements to older models, lower prices, new information, a constantly improving customer service system. These things keep our company in top notch shape.Carla::: What reasons would persuade a customer to buy from you in China?
Morgan Lanton::: We know that to rise above competition, you must provide superior products. We have a team that examines and studies VERTU phones and our factory team uses the finest manufacturing techniques and the best material available to make our phones. With the exact same look, the same size and weight, and with software mimicking that of the original, our phones provide good competition to every and all VERTU replica businesses out there. Of course some of our competitors produce equally fine phones, but we manage to surpass them with our customer support. We have a large team that is available 24-7 and is extremely fluent in English, whereas many rival companies are limited to Chinese or poor English. As if that wasn’t enough, we have multiple payment methods available for our customers which are Paypal, Credit Card, Bank Transfer, and Western Union. And with a 12 month warranty and after purchase customer assistance, I believe it is apparent why we are so successful.Carla::: What plans have you got for the future?
Morgan Lanton::: We plan on purchasing a second factory to increase the amount we produce as our demand increases. There is always room for improvement in anything and even as we speak, our specialists are testing phones and doing experiments to see what can be improved on. One major problem facing our company today is that we do not have any physical stores and customers do not get to see and hold what they are about to purchase. Therefore, we are planning to open shops in USA, UK, and Hong Kong, and eventually in all major places that attract business. Even though our Customer Service team is already most likely the best of its kind, improvement is still possible. We plan to hire more people as we build up the size of our company which will ease the workload of our hard working employees and allow them to give twice as much attention to each customer. We also hope to introduce the “Cash On Deliver” payment method to give even more convenience to our beloved customers. But this all takes time. We’re soon going to introduce a live online feed on our website, where customers will be able to watch their favorite phones in real-time and speak to our staff while looking at the VERTU phone that they’re going to get.Carla::: What are some problems your company faces today?
Morgan Lanton::: We have been copied by some companies and have had our photos used without permission. And it is not just the photos, but basically everything we have. Our website style has been copied, our phone text and descriptions have been copied. Our videos have been taken. Our rivals will stop at nothing to try to match our success. Another problem is that we have not been able to ship to a handful of countries due to customs regulations. We are currently working to solve these problems. We plan on improving copyright and protection for our property to prevent it from being used without our permission. We plan also plan on finding options for customers who live in countries where are phones can’t pass customs so that they, too, can enjoy our great products.Carla::: Well, thank you again for our extremely interesting conversation, Mr. Lanton. I wish you luck in the future and wish prosperity to your business. I look forward to see your company grow into a huge worldwide enterprise and to see reminders of your phones everywhere I go.
Morgan Lanton::: Thank you Carla, I will definitely look forward to hearing from you in the future and let me know how well your project goes. If you have any more questions you can always contact our support team (contact information at Lux-Replica-Phones.com and they’ll direct you over to me. I deeply appreciate your interview and allowing me to share the story of me and my company and use it for your project. Have a great day.
I believe that that was way superficial and too general; I’m sure that right now as we speak, Carla and Mr. Lanton are engaged in a serious business discussion, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to get some inside information from Carla.
Dear Mr.I-don’t-really-know-who-you-are from VertuBoutique.com, please reply to my e-mail for an interview with Carla. If you say a simple “No, sorry” – nobody’s gonna be offended, really.
