We have always admired how Xiaomi markets and sells their devices particularly in India. Nowadays, doing things online is key and so far, the Chinese tech giant has succeeded implementing that principle. All its devices were being sold online via Flipkart and reports said that it has sold more or less 800,000 units the past year.
However, the world's top 3 smartphone vendor seemed to have changed its mind thereby tweaking its strategy, as it has begun distributing Redmi Note 4Gs in Bharti Airtel Ltd. stores. This is the first time Xiaomi has "offered its devices on the high street in India" according to WSJ India. This could be to the company's advantage in order to get a bigger chunk of the Indian market, who still are into the traditional way of buying their gadgets in stores.
Moreover, the country's executives and analysts observe that sales of smartphones via online makes a contribution of only less than 5 percent of the overall sales of the devices in India. So in this regard, Xiaomi must be indeed making a smart move.
The China-based smartphone vendor has experienced an interruption as far as selling its devices are concerned, when it went through patent issues with Swedish network equipment vendor Ericsson. Indian Intellectual Property blog Spicy IP has reported that the Delhi High Court has initially prohibited Xiaomi from "importing and selling" its devices in India after finding out about its infringement of patents from Ericsson. Thankfully, the said court has temporarily lifted its ban to the Chinese tech giant and has been granted to sell its smartphones that are powered by Qualcomm chipsets.
As of last week, the Redmi Note 4G was being sold in 133 Airtel stores in six Indian cities namely Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, and is priced at 9,999 Rupees or $157.
Keep visiting Franchise Herald for more updates on Xiaomi.
