Xiaomi has continued to unravel its plans to expand its product offering globally and one continent it targets is Europe. Xiaomi has a growing presence in several countries in Europe and one of them is Russia. Since it made its debut in Russia in 2017 the company has grown to become one of the top 5 smartphone vendors in the country. There are indications that Xiaomi is planning to expand its presence in Russia According to Kommersant, Xiaomi and Huawei are planning to expand their network of retail stores in Russia.
Kommersant cited sources in the communications market who hinted that Xiaomi plans to open about 100 stores this year while Huawei plans to open 30 stores this 2019. The report says Huawei plans to grow its stores from 150 to 200. The Chinese market leader is said to be scouting for partners and is already in talks with Inventive Retail Group. Huawei presently has six stores in Russia, four located in Moscow and one each in Ufa and Novosibirsk. On the other hand, Xiaomi has 30 Mi stores spread across different cities and also 29 “islands” in shopping centres. Xiaomi has stores in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, Samara, Tomsk, Khabarovsk and Nizhny Novgorod.
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A report by GS Analytical Center in 2018 showed that Huawei is ranked second in smartphone shipments after Samsung while Xiaomi ranks fifth after Apple and Nokia.
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