China’s Xiaomi branches out beyond smartphones to crack Indian market
The Beijing-based tech giant plans to roll out 102 different products to Indian customers through its Mi Home stores
Chinese technology giant Xiaomi, best known for making smartphones and once hailed as an iPhone slayer, has decided the key to breaking the Indian market lies in a rather different product: the air purifier.
“We have studied the demands of Indian customers, taking their living environment, preferences and consumption power into consideration. The air purifier is the product for us to further establish ourselves in India,” said Eugene Chan, regional manager of Mi Home, Xiaomi’s retail outlet chain.
The air purifier is the product for us to further establish ourselves in India
The Beijing-based firm is betting big on a bricks-and-mortar strategy to expand its presence in India, a country viewed by tech companies around the world as the next big internet market after China.
Another part of the growth strategy is to branch out into making and selling products besides smartphones in an effort to rejuvenate the brand as an “everything store” in the South Asian country.
With its first self-operated retail store set to open in Bangalore next month, Xiaomi plans to open five to 10 more offline stores under the Mi Home brand in India this year, selling products ranging from smartphones and fitness trackers to speakers and robot vacuum cleaners – and, of course, air purifiers.
The plan is likely to include manufacturing some of the items locally to keep costs down.
“We are considering producing air purifiers as well as other home appliance products in India locally to make sure that our products are still at affordable prices even sold offline in overseas countries,” said Chan, who is in charge of Mi Home’s expansion in South China and foreign markets.