Xiaomi expects 50% smartphone sales to come via offline by early next year

Smartphone maker Xiaomi expects offline retail to account for about half of its smartphone sales, up from about 30 per cent currently, by early next year as it expands its presence into small cities.

Xiaomi, which is present in offline retail in the top 30-40 Indian cities through its Mi Preferred Partners and Mi Homes, is looking at increasing this number to about 100 cities by early next year.

"Within a short time, we have seen phenomenal growth in our offline business. It is about 30 per cent of our sales, even though we are present in only top 30-40 cities in offline retail. We are looking at ramping this to about 100 cities by early next year," Xiaomi VP and India Managing Director Manu Jain told PTI.

He added that the company has about 40 Mi Homes and 2,500 Mi Preferred Partners currently.

Jain said Xiaomi is looking at taking this number to about 100 Mi Homes and a few thousand Mi Preferred Partners.

"Every new city where we have expanded our offline business, we have seen strong growth coming in and our volumes in those cities have increased significantly. By early next year, offline should be about half of our sales," he said.

Xiaomi had forayed into the Indian market in 2014, selling smartphones exclusively online through Flipkart. However, a year later, it partnered with distributors to sell devices through brick and mortar stores as well.

Last year, it had set up its first Mi Home in Bengaluru with an aim to allow consumers to experience and buy all Xiaomi products under one roof.

According to research firm IDC, Xiaomi led the Indian smartphone market with 30.3 per cent share in the January-March 2018 quarter, which registered shipment of about 30 million units.

Samsung ranked second in the tally with 25.1 per cent, followed by Oppo (7.4 per cent), Vivo (6.7 per cent) and Transsion (4.6 per cent), as per IDC. The overall smartphone shipment in the said quarter grew 11 per cent from 27 million in January-March 2017 quarter.

Xiaomi maintained its lead in the Indian market for second quarter in a row with further expansion in the offline channel and popularity of its models such as Redmi 5A and Redmi Note 5, the research firm had said.