China’s Xiaomi, which gave Samsung Electronics the No. 1 spot in the Indian smartphone market, is reportedly seeking a counterattack through a strategy to strengthen offline sales.
According to Reuters on the 17th, Muralikrishnan, head of B Xiaomi Indian subsidiary, said, “Our offline market position is much lower than online,” and announced plans to increase sales by expanding offline networks.
Xiaomi, which had a market share of about 16% in the fourth quarter of last year in the Indian market with 600 million smartphone users, seems to have started to revise its strategy after giving up its throne to Samsung Electronics (20%).
According to statistics from market analyst Counterpoint Research, Xiaomi offline sales in the Indian smartphone market this year were 34%, far below Samsung Electronics’ 57%. Murali Krishnan, head of the corporation, also admitted that there is a limit to Xiaomi’s strategy of focusing on online sales through platforms such as Amazon, saying, “In the offline market, other competitors are doing very well and have a higher market share.”
In this regard, Murali Krishnan, the head of the corporation, said, “We plan to expand the number of offline stores, which is currently 18,000,” adding, “We will also increase the supply of other products such as Xiaomi TVs and security cameras.” He added that by the end of next year, the number of store promoters will also increase to 12,000, three times more than the current number.
Tarun Patak, an analyst at Counterpoint, advised, “Offline is an important platform because there is a trend of high-end products in India, and consumers want to see and feel premium products.” Some predict that strengthening offline sales will help establish a high-end strategy away from low-cost phone-oriented sales methods.
