Xiaomi is planning to introduce more partnerships with offline retailers across India. In a bid to suppress competition from Samsung, the Chinese smartphone maker is keen to invest in India’s offline market. The company’s expansion plans are aimed to boost sales of products beyond smartphones, such as televisions, Bluetooth accessories, smart home products and other accessories.
“Our biggest success story has been our offline journey, including setting up more preferred partners, more Mi Home stores,” said Manu Kumar Jain, Vice President, Xiaomi and Managing Director, Xiaomi India, at an event.
Xiaomi will set up new Mi experience stores, and will also increase offline reach via third-party retailers. Currently, Xiaomi owns 50 Mi Home stores, 500 Mi Stores, and 4000 preferred partners stores across the country. Apart from increasing to 100 Mi Home stores in cities, Xiaomi also plans 5000 small Mi Stores in Rural India, helping the company to reach out to every potential customer. According to Economic Times, the company wants to increase its presence in the multi-brand retail segment also.
“2019 will also witness more ambitious retail expansion of our offline channel to extend support for newer categories such as Mi LED TVs. In smartphones, Xiaomi is the second largest brand in the offline market with nearly 18% market share as of January GFK smartphone tracker,” the spokesperson told ET.
Xiaomi is the largest smartphone manufacturer in India, while Samsung is following it up at the second place. Xiaomi is now looking to dethrone the Korean giant, currently leading the offline market in the country. “For the entire CY 2018, according to IDC numbers, we were almost 30 percent bigger than the second largest brand. In Q4, we were 50 percent bigger than the second biggest brand,” Jain added.
On the other hand, Samsung is now actively working to capture most of the mid-range smartphone market. They have already announced the new mid-range devices under its Galaxy A-series and M-series.
Xiaomi’s online portal Mi.com is India’s third largest e-commerce platform. To further scale up the company’s presence, Xiaomi is launching new products in the next few months. “We’re also launching new categories. Overall, the company is doing exceptionally well in India. From a smartphone business perspective we are now the No. 1 brand for six consecutive quarters by a huge margin.” said Jain.
Xiaomi manufactures every smartphone sold in India within the country. Xiaomi has exceptionally increased its manufacturing capacity to 3 smartphones per second during operating hours. To expand the brand’s overall presence, Xiaomi is further looking for options to invest in India.
Xiaomi hopes to take on Samsung amid increased competition in both online and offline segments.
