Xiaomi to go offline in near future which is a positive move. The company has tied up with Redington to sell its smartphones across major cities in India. Recently, Xiaomi shook hands with TheMobilstore to sell MI phones offline. But it was not in a large scale, also they are doing the same with Airtel too.
In china, Xiaomi gets almost 70% orders from online. Whereas in India, it increases up to 90%. So, they will be more focusing online rather offline. But the scenario in India quite different compared to china. In this era also Indians prefer to visit retail stores for purchasing any product. The reasons are many, for instance, the lack of trust on Online stores. Indian Brands like Celkon Mobiles are surviving only because of retail stores.
Manu Jain, The Head of MI India told PTI
” We have partnered Redington. We will begin with select cities like Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore and later scale it pan-India”
“Offline has done well for us. But the focus will remain on online. In China, about 70 percent of our sales come from online and the remaining is offline. In India too, we should see similar trends”
“Currently, about 90 percent sales in India is online (Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon)… This should stabilise at about 20-30 percent in the coming time.”
As Manu Jain said, they will be focusing on major cities like Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Most brands neglecting offline market which is huge in India. The move by Xiaomi is appreciable and a positive way to expand the business. In the next 45-60 days, Xiaomi will sell Redmi 2, Mi 4, Mi 4i and Mi Pad across 1000-1500 stores.
