Xiaomi to invest Rs 100 crore over 2 years to expand offline retail
Smartphone brand Xiaomi will invest Rs 100 crore in expanding its offline retail presence for deeper reach in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, towns, and rural India over the next two years.
It is aiming to double its exclusive store count from 3000 currently to 6000+ in the next two years which would generate direct employment for 10,000 people in its offline retail channel, Xiaomi India, stated – MD Manu Kumar Jain. He added – “We have earmarked a sum of Rs 100 crore to help these 3000 additional partners to come on board and provide support for renovating their stores, adding furniture, branding, installing IT systems and POS machines for billing as well as hiring promoters and buddies”.
It will also launch the Mi Retail Academy, a platform to train and encourage budding entrepreneurs in mobile phone retail and push female participation in the trade, Jain said. “By the Mi retail academy we want to train or coach these retailers so that they become top notch brand ambassadors of Xiaomi over time,” he added.
Xiaomi, which has been India’s highest-selling smartphone brand for 13 consecutive quarters, currently has 3000 exclusive Mi stores, 75 Mi Homes and 10,000 retail points in its offline network. It claims to have the largest exclusive consumer brand network in India, almost 44% bigger than Samsung, 48% bigger than CCD and 117% than Bata.
Xiaomi is the top online brand with over 40-45% share in the online channel but only 18-20% share in the offline. The company-owned online store Mi.com accounts for 10% share in Xiaomi’s overall sales. It is aiming to maintain a 50:50 ratio of sales across offline and online retail channels.
Jain denied all claims of preferential treatment to online channels and said that the company has ensured even distribution of its stocks even during the COVID, when there was an acute shortage.