Xiaomi leaps into Diwali sales

Xiaomi launched the #DiwaliWithMe offer, a flash sale of Mi gadgets. The offer ends tomorrow, reports Tech in Asia

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Xiaomi seems to have taken this old adage to heart in its efforts towards “incorporating Xiaomi into the fabric of India,” as Xiaomi VP Hugo Barra put it while announcing the Chinese phonemaker’s first made-in-India phone in August.

Today the company is lighting up the sky with a ‘Diwali bumper offer’.
 

Aside from the bumper offer, Xiaomi’s Diwali has a few cool touches more characteristic of the social media-savvy company from Beijing that has caught the imagination of technophiles in India. There’s the Light Mi Up game which asks ‘Mi fans’ to create a unique pattern of diyas. They can also win prizes by retracing a Mi India diya pattern in 10 seconds.
 

There’s the usual Xiaomi tactic to drum up excitement with flash sales of Mi gadgets which disappear in seconds and leave a trail of disgruntled shoppers on social media. But it also has straight offers, such as a 25% discount on the Mi Pad. The ‘bumper prize’ though is a Mi TV 2S given away to a lucky winner on each of the three days of the #DiwaliWithMi, which concludes tomorrow.
 

The firm has caught on to the festival mania in India, where one festival follows another all year round. Before #DiwaliWithMe, Xiaomi gave away in-ear headphones for free to buyers of Mi phones and tablets during Ganesh Chaturthi in September. And it also celebrated Raksha Bandhan in August with a theme offer.
 

Here are our picks from #DiwaliWithMi:

• Mi Pad – INR 9,999 (US$153)
• Mi 4i 16GB – INR 10,999 (US$168)
• Mi Band (White LED) – INR 799 (US$12)
• Mi In-ear Headphones – INR 299 (US$4.5)

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.