Xiaomi have had a rather prolific year or so in India since the launch of the Redmi Note 3. The phone sold in big numbers, and Xiaomi recently followed it up with the Redmi Note 4 (Snapdragon 625) which continues to do well.
That said, it’s only the online channel where Xiaomi is really gaining traction. In a country like India where credit card penetration levels are still playing catch up (despite availability of ‘cash on delivery’ model), a huge (read: majority) section of the buyers is still oblivious to what’s going on at the online platform.
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Which is perhaps why Xiaomi are looking to grab a greater share of the offline pie. Xiaomi have offered a few of their phones offline — a figure that contributes around 10% of their total sales — but they’re now looking to more than double that. By the end of 2017, Xiaomi plan to take that to an ambitious 25%.
ALSO SEE: Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Teardown (Snapdragon)
Buyers would be more than thrilled to be able to purchase their favourite Xiaomi phone offline, but the offline channel will add obvious costs. It remains to be seen if Xiaomi will bear the brunt of the added expenses.
Keeping overhead low is more important than moving units.
Yes, and how Xiaomi will manage that is what’s interesting here.
Keeping overhead low is more important than moving units.
Yes, and how Xiaomi will manage that is what’s interesting here.