Chinese Smartphone maker Xiaomi, who is preparing to make a big entry into the Indian Smartphone market, will sell its devices exclusively via Flipkart according to a BGR report. While there is no official confirmation from either Flipkart or Xiaomi regarding this matter, we have little reason to dismiss the report. The report also says that Xiaomi will launch two smartphones!
Flipkart has increasingly served as the Launchpad for several new products. What started out as an experiment with the Motorola Moto G (which, by the way, sold faster than hot cakes) has turned into fashion.
The trend is to skimp on huge marketing budgets for affordable devices such as the Moto G and Moto E and launch it exclusively with India’s largest e-commerce platform. It’s a win-win for both; Flipkart gets to sell millions and the OEM’s product gets millions of views of critical exposure, at fraction of a cost.
Xiaomi is a company that doesn’t spend much on advertising. In fact, as detailed in our previous post regarding Xiaomi’s entry into the Indian market, the Chinese phone maker manages to sell their phones at a cheap price because they skip a huge advertising budget altogether. Instead, they rely on social media, forums and technology blogs to give them the necessary exposure.
Their formula is well suited for today’s Internet generation. Squeeze the latest and greatest specifications into a Smartphone and put an extremely affordable price tag to it, and the Internet does the rest for you.
Also, Xiaomi’s entry into the Indian Smartphone market couldn’t have been timed more perfectly. Q1 2014 saw 14.5 million units shipped across the country, which marks a 219.4% YoY growth.
At present, Xiaomi’s products are unofficially available in India from e-commerce sites such as eBay. The budget RedMi series costs Rs. 13,000 whereas the high-end Xiaomi Mi3 can be purchased for Rs. 25,000.
After an official launch with Flipkart, it is possible that the Mi3 be available for under Rs. 20,000. At that price, one would be hard-pressed to find another Android Smartphone that can offer more value for money.
It will also be interesting to see whether Xiaomi can replicate their success in India as it has done in other countries like Singapore, where the phones were sold out in minutes after launch. A lot will depend on how Xiaomi prices it’s phone.
What is your take?
