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 Xiaomi entered India with online retailer Flipkart.com in July,
selling phones through flash sales whereby availability is limited
to short time frames. The online strategy cuts down on marketing and
distribution costs, allowing Xiaomi to sell feature-rich phones at
low prices.
But last week, Bharti Airtel said it would sell Redmi Note 4G
handsets in six cities through 133 stores of India's biggest
fourth-generation (4G) mobile network provider. In-store handset
prices in India are comparable to online models because neither are
sold with network chips or subsidised through pricing plans.
"If this works out fine, we'll expand the partnership to other
cities and other devices," Manu Jain, head of Xiaomi in India, told
Reuters in a telephone interview on Wednesday, adding that it was
too early to form any concrete plans yet.
Making models available in stores - as Xiaomi does in China - could
help the fast-growing startup reach more users in the world's
third-largest smartphone market as Bharti promotes the handsets to
attract subscribers to its 4G service.
OFFLINE CHANNELS
Due to online sales, Xiaomi's Indian customers span 1,000 cities
just six months after entering the market, Jain said.
But "offline" channels are important for prospective customers to
see and feel the phones on offer. In China, about 30 percent of
Xiaomi's sales come from "offline" channels and the company is
aiming for a similar split in India, Jain said.
Xiaomi's store push comes as the maker plans new model launches,
including its pricer Mi4 by the end of this month or early next,
Jain said without elaborating.
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In India, Xiaomi is just one of 280 brands in a smartphone market
led by South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd followed by
local maker Micromax Informatics Ltd. Standing out from the crowd
could necessitate a more tangible presence in a range of locations.
Rival Google launched its Android One range of affordable
smartphones last year on e-commerce sites in India, and has since
extended to in-store sales.
"If Xiaomi has to reach out to rural areas and smaller cities (which
have lower online populations), they have to have tie-ups with
brick-and-mortar stores," said Neil Shah, a Mumbai-based research
director for devices at Counterpoint Research.
(Editing by Clara Ferreira Marques and Christopher Cushing)
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