Xiaomi’s stint in India started in 2014, when the Chinese companies in India did not have much of a name. It was difficult to make a name in India considering the growth of Korean and local players in India. However, Xiaomi and a couple of other manufacturers decided to turn it around.
China’s response to Apple came in the form of Xiaomi and the company launched its popular Mi series. The flash sales were started by this company as well, that saw its popular Mi 3 and Mi 4 smartphones getting sold in less than a second. The company even became serious about its operations in India and launched data centres for customer service.
Now, approximately 2.5 years later, Xiaomi has created its own record of selling more than 2 million devices in a quarter, July to September 2016. This partly includes the Diwali rush, that saw 5 Lakh Xiaomi smartphones sold in 72 hours.
The company has been trying to take an offline route for very long, as it plans to open 1,000 retail outlets across the country by 2020. The online route, currently taken by OnePlus, might be effective in the beginning but an omnichannel strategy proves to be the best in the long run.
“Mi India has been warmly welcomed by users, which is why we are one of the fastest growing brands in the smartphone industry today – one out of every four smartphones sold online was Xiaomi,” Manu Kumar Jain, India head – Xiaomi, said.
The company has also registered a 150% year over year growth, which is the increase in mobiles sold in Q3 2016 as compared to Q3 2015. This growth has been phenomenal and no other Chinese handset maker can boast of that.
Will Xiaomi’s sales become stagnant in India soon?
The existing portfolio of Xiaomi devices in India includes Mi Band 2, Mi Air Purifier, Mi5, Mi 4, Mi 4i, Redmi 2, Redmi 3S+, Redmi Note 3, Redmi Note Prime, Mi Max and a bunch of power banks.
However, there are lot of flagship products still missing this list, and the company has always focussed on the mass market, i.e. sub-Rs. 15,000 market. While other companies like OnePlus have taken on the higher-end segment and proven to be successful.
Xiaomi in China has become so stagnant, that the company is looking for other markets, especially India, to fire its growth. In the US, the company marked its entry recently and showed of the Mi Mix, a bezel-less smartphone that will never launch in India. Not only does this make its fans furious but also limits the market.
In a few years time, with the entry of so many Chinese smartphone makers, Xiaomi will have to look at other segments to drive sales. If it doesn’t plan to reach a stage like it has in China, then it should look at launching its flagship products and maybe introduce some new innovative ones that are currently sold in China only.