The
Chinese phone maker, Xiaomi, entered the Indian market in August last
year. It managed to woo audiences with its unique flash sales and
limited stock availability per week, exclusively via Flipkart. The
company has now decided to shed its ‘online-only’ image and teamed up
with the retail chain ‘The Mobile Store’ to sell select Mi smartphones.
The
phones on offline stores will reportedly carry the same price as they
are available online. According to The Economic Times, Xiaomi’s Mi 4 and
Redmi Note 4G will be available through The Mobile Store – via 55
stores in Delhi NCR – priced at Rs 19,999 and Rs 9,999, respectively.
Mobile
Store outlets will reportedly also work as service centres for the
Xiaomi phones. Manu Jain, head of India operations at Xiaomi told the
news site, “This will be the first time that we’re getting into offline
trade in India. In China, about 20-30% of total sales through come from
telecom operators stores while the rest comes from our online store –
Mi.com.”
However,
it should be noted that this isn’t the first time, the company is
selling its device via brick and mortar store. If you remember, Xiaomi
had teamed up with Airtel to sell its Redmi Note 4 via its stores.
In
line with the reports about Xiaomi’s own e-commerce store, the Chinese
handset maker has started selling accessories on its Mi India store .
So
far, the company had been selling its devices only via its exclusive
India partner, Flipkart. With the recent moves, it clearly shows that as
Xiaomi plans to expand its lineup in India, it is also looking to
partner with different distribution channels.
Posted by : Gizmeon
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