Xiaomi Set To Open Offline Stores In India By Early 2016
Xiaomi usually sells its devices online, directly to their consumers via online market places and hence save a lot on marketing expenses. However, the Chinese smartphone company has now decided to start selling via offline stores in India.
“We are experimenting with a new sales channel and getting into general trade to increase our reach and to make our products available more easily,” Jain said.
The company had previously entered a partnership with Flipkart and then eventually launched its own online portal – Mi.com. But now, with offline stores in India, it is eying a bigger share in the smartphone industry’s market shares.
Xiaomi is said to be tying up with Redington (India) Ltd., a cellphone distributor in India, while also working on a commission-based model. However, further reports don’t suggest anything apart from this, and Xiaomi might also be working with multiple partners.
The offline sales are to open in thousand to fifteen hundred stores in fifteen south Indian cities – Chennai, Bengaluru, Mysore, and Visakhapatnam being a few. The first phase of offline sales is said to go live in the next 45 to 60 days, and will eventually be available all over India by early 2016.
Manu Jain, India operations head at Xiaomi, has said, that although the cost of doing an offline business is higher, the margins should not be affected too much. He also added that they would not pass on the cost to the consumers and expect sales in India to contribute to over twenty five to thirty percent of the overall numbers.
With this project in tow, reports also suggest that Xiaomi is in talks with a Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn to make its smartphones in India as well as to introduce air purifiers and televisions here.
