Xiaomi plans to boost retail store sales in India - report
Robert Way
Xiaomi (OTCPK:XIACF) (OTCPK:XIACY) aims to focus on strengthening its India sales from retail stores after years of big bets on e-commerce, Reuters reported citing the company's India president.
The plan comes as the company seeks to revive smartphone sales after falling behind rival Samsung Electronics (OTCPK:SSNLF).
E-commerce sales in India, through Amazon (AMZN) and Walmart's (WMT) Flipkart, have soared in recent years, helping Xiaomi and others expand in the growing markets. While, 44% of India's smartphones sales are now online, the physical stores segment remains the bigger play and Xiaomi expects it to boost further, the report added.
"Our market position in offline is substantially lower than what it is online," said Muralikrishnan B., Xiaomi's India head on Friday in an interview, according to the report.
About 34% of Xiaomi's India unit sales in 2023 have come from retail stores, with the remaining via websites, the report added citing data from Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Research. Samsung saw 57% of its revenue from stores.
Xiaomi intends to expand its store network, beyond the 18,000 stores and boost collaboration with phone vendors to offer other products, such as Xiaomi TVs or security cameras, where, Muralikrishnan noted, competition is less extreme.
The report added that another India challenge for Xiaomi is a government agency's $673M freeze on its bank assets since last year. The agency alleges that the company made illegal remittances to foreign entities in the name of royalties. Xiaomi denies wrongdoing.
Muralikrishnan noted that ultimately the company's position will be heard and validated, according to the report.
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