Xiaomi India plans 10,000 New Stores

Xiaomi India will open 10,000 outlets in a bid to lock down its dominance over Samsung in the territory.

The Chinese-headquartered company also announced last week that it expects 50 per cent of its business to be generated by trading offline by the end of this year.

“About two years ago, we realised that while we had a 50 per cent share in online sales, our offline presence was negligible,” said Xiaomi VP and MD Manu Jain. “That’s when we started our offline expansion.”

The firm opened in India as an online-only brand about five years ago. Its new “Mi Studio” retail format will join Xiaomi’s more than 6000 existing outlets in other categories, including Mi Homes, Mi Preferred Partners and Mi Stores.

The firm opened 500 outlets in one day in India last October.

Xiaomi is already ahead of Samsung in smartphone sales, with a 28.9 per cent share as of December last year, compared with Samsung’s 18.7 per cent.

“Mi Studios aim to offer premium brand experience in 50 top cities,” said Jain. “This format is an optimised version of Mi Homes replicating the same design and displaying modern, minimalist interiors.”

Two of the new 400–600sqft Mi Studios outlets have already been set up in Bengaluru and Mumbai.

Xiaomi has also recently entered the Romanian market with a new flagship Mi Store in Bucharest. The Mega Mall Bucharest outlet sells the full range of Xiaomi products, including smartphones, headsets, electric scooters, and home appliances.