Xiaomi aims to scale up offline presence across India with the launch of Mi Studio

Xiaomi’s flash sales are definitely something a lot of people hate but the company’s also making a big push for offline sales in India. Announcing the opening of Xiaomi’s 1,000 Mi Store in the country, the Chinese company is on course to reach its intended target of having 10,000 retail stores by the end of this year. Xiaomi’s country head of operations, Manu Kumar Jain while talking at the **launch of the Redmi Y3 and the Redmi 7** stated that Xiaomi had generated employment for over 2,000 people with the opening of 1,000 Mi Stores, which are spread across 19 states including 119 cities in the country. “We have been the No. 1 smartphone brand in India for nine consecutive quarters and our market share in the online smartphone business in the country is over 50 percent. [caption id=“attachment_4313589” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Manu Kumar Jain, Managing Director of Xiaomi India. Image: Reuters[/caption] “The scope of growth in online market share is now limited. Therefore, we are focusing on expanding our offline presence in a big way,” Jain said. According to him, Xiaomi’s current market share in the offline smartphone business in India is 20 percent. “By the end of this year, we are hoping to have 50 percent of our smartphone sales in the country from offline channels,” he added.

Our aim is to have 10000+ offline retail stores by the end of 2019. Ensuring our fans have a good choice to buy both online and offline.😊

We aim to garner 50% sales from offline channels in 2019 & better cater to the incredible demand for our products.👍 pic.twitter.com/yPdmnW86z6

— Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) April 24, 2019

Jain who also happens to be the VP of Xiaomi’s global operations also used the platform to announce the launch of Mi Studios, the latest addition to the company’s three retail channels. Located currently in Bengaluru and Mumbai, the new Mi Studios are essentially smaller version of Mi Homes with an average size of 400-600 square feet. Unlike Mi Homes though, Mi Studios will be operated by Xiaomi’s partners and not the company directly. This move, Jain claims, will help the scaling process much easier, allowing the company to look at an achievable target of 200 new Mi Studios by the turn of the year. “We are learning from other brands such as Samsung and Vivo in expanding our offline presence in the country,” Jain added.