Xiaomi has just opened its first official brick and mortar store in Saudi Arabia. The company’s new Mi Store is situated in the Electron Commercial Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and was officially opened earlier this month.

This marks the opening of the first official physical store from the Chinese tech giant in the region, which will sell Mi branded products like smartphones to various other consumer electronics products and related accessories a well. This includes products like smartwatches, and even smart home appliances like vacuum cleaners and other products from its vast ecosystem.

These products will also range from high end, mid range, to entry level products for Saudi customers. This marks a major step for the smartphone maker as it was recently ranked among the top three smartphone brands in the country in the first quarter of this year by Canalys, a market analysis based firm. Xiaomi held a market share of 12 percent in the region in Q1 2021.

The company’s Saudi state manager Wang Xingang added that “With the development of China’s scientific and technological strength, the smart electronic products, including smartphones, are deeply loved by consumers in the Middle East.” The official also stated his optimism regarding the brand’s performance in the Saudi market, and even expressing his hope for additional Mi stores to open in the country in the near future to introduce the “China smart manufacturing” to the world.

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The Xiaomi online retail platform, the Mi Store, announced earlier today (6th February 2020) that it is launching a contactless delivery service in China. It is being introduced with health safety in mind as the nation struggles from the recent Coronavirus outbreak.

According to Xiaomi Mi Store’s official Weibo post, the new service is in accordance with the local Government’s efforts to curb the infection. This will help in the prevention and control of the risk of the epidemic spreading further across mainland China. Notably, the Chinese tech giant had shut its Mi Store after concerns were raised but will start operating soon after some internal readjustments.

For those unaware, China has been plagued by one of the worst viral outbreaks in the last few decades. The new breed of Coronavirus has infected thousands with a death toll nearing a few hundred already. The infection is believed to have originated from the Wuhan city in China, which is currently under tight quarantine. Coronavirus is known to cause pneumonia and is currently difficult to cure.

Editor’s Pick: Xiaomi is crowdfunding an automatic Toothpaste Dispenser, uses UV to disinfect toothbrushes

Thus, the Xiaomi announcement of contactless shipping is a great help for people still requiring the company’s services but worry about the infection spreading. Many different company’s, especially manufacturing OEMs, had to shut down their factories and production lines after the government issued an order to halt such large workplaces. This is also another effort to control the outbreak.

The contactless support from Xiaomi is available 7 days a week for 12 hours every day. It is offered at a price of 99 Yuan which roughly translates to about 14.2 US Dollars and also offers free shipping when opted for. Interestingly, Xiaomi is not the first to implement such a system as other major e-retailers have also adopted this service, including Asus and Meituan Takeaway, China’s top meal delivery firm.

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Xiaomi is learning in a rancorous manner that expansion comes with a price and one of such price is internal wrangling among staffs as the personnel size increases. On the stock market end, the company’s stock has met some murky waters as it was affected by the global stock market adjustment, leading to the company’s market value fell below 300 billion HK dollars. This article isn’t about the company’s stock, though, but about a reported wrangling inside Xiaomi’s Nanjing flagship store in China.

This came out in the open following a post by an aggrieved staff who has access to the flagship store’s official Weibo account. In his rant, the staff stated among other things as translated from Chinese; “From today, there will be no Nanjing flagship Mi Store any longer. You [probably referring to Mi Store management] are trampling on the bodies our brothers who work for their meagre incomes. Xiaomi is no longer the coolest company in my mind,”. The post also called out the company’s top management such as founder Lei Jun and company president Lin Bin. The controversial post has since been taken down.

Read Also: Xiaomi opens world’s largest Mi Home store in Wuhan, China

According to local media, Xiaomi released a rejoined stating; “We found that the microblog is posted by the employee who operates our Weibo account to vent personal resentment. But the reason behind this incident is still under investigation.” We don’t expect to hear anything about the internal investigation anyway. We hope this gets sorted out and the company is able to put staff welfare at the forefront.

(source)

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In the second quarter of this year, the company had managed to ship 23.16 million phones. During the same quarter last year, it shipped only 13.3 million units, representing just 3.9% market share.

For the company to meet its target of 90 million devices this year, it will have to ship 30 million smartphones in the fourth quarter. In the month of September, Xiaomi shipped a record 10 million devices. Considering this, it is possible for the company to ship 30 million devices in three months.

Another reason that makes it possible for the company to reach its target is that the smartphones launched by Xiaomi this year, such as Mi 6, Redmi Note 4, Xiaomi Mi A1 and the Mi MIX 2 have been well received in the market.

Xiaomi’s strongest year to date, in terms of shipments, has been 2015, when it shipped 70 million devices. However, for that year, the company’s target was to ship 80 million devices.

Earlier, Lei Jin had said that Xiaomi aims to ship out 100 million smartphones in 2018. He also said that the company has been working towards that goal since quite some time.

There was a time when Xiaomi, which is currently amongst the world’s top 5 smartphone companies, once saw its smartphone shipments dip 40% year over year. To catch up with the competition, it took a series of strategic steps, which included increasing production capacity and focusing on advanced technologies.

Read More: Xiaomi To Focus on Offline Sales In the Future

Besides online flash sales, the company has now started focusing on establishing its presence in the offline space as well. Recently, the company launched 20 new Mi Stores in China, reaching its goal of opening over 200 Mi Stores in China this year. The tech giant has revealed that it plans to open 1,000 physical stores in different Chinese cities by the year 2020.

Not only in China, the new strategy seems to be working for Xiaomi in other regions as well. Xiaomi has now emerged as India’s second largest smartphone brand with a 15.5% of market share, second to Samsung’s 24%.

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Xiaomi has added 20 new stores to its growing chain of Mi Home brick and mortar stores in China. With this new development, Xiaomi has hinted that the total number of Mi Stores in China has crossed the 200 stores mark. Xiaomi’s CEO, Lei Jun had hinted of the company’s plans to open over 200 Mi Home Stores in China this year several months back. That feat has now been achieved well before the end of the year, springing up the possibility of more stores joining before the year finally runs out.

The 20 new stores were opened on October 1 which is the National Day of the People’s Republic of China and a public holiday. Expectedly, the stores’ opening, recorded huge turnouts in all the cities where they were sited.  Except for some cities where the Mi Store is making its debut for the first time, some cities have more than one like Zhengzhou which is getting its fourth Mi Store. The latest development brings the total number of Mi Stores in China to over 300.

Read More: Xiaomi To Focus on Offline Sales In the Future

Xiaomi has achieved some progress so far in its bid to make its product accessible to its numerous customers who often experience difficulty getting their choice products due to an online-only model the company had been operating. The tech giant plans to open 1000 physical stores in different Chinese cities by the year 2020. The company also aims to open more Mi Stores outside of China. This strategy is meant to complement the online sales channels already in effect. Apart from smartphones, Xiaomi also stocks its wide range of Smart home products like its smart fitness bands, smart scooters, smart air purifiers, water purifier, internet-of-things and more, all in a bid to expand its ecosystem and shore up its revenue. Already, the results are looking promising, with the company climbing into the top 5 spots in global smartphone shipments in Q2 2017 and is set to hit its 70 million smartphone target for this year this October, two months before the year’s end.

(source)

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