Xiaomi India is betting towards boosting offline sales to take on Samsung

India’s second-largest smartphone maker by market share, Xiaomi is focusing on boosting its sales in the country via retail outlets. Xiaomi is a major brand in the online space reckoning millions of units in sales via e-commerce bigwigs such as Flipkart and Amazon. However, it recently dropped below Samsung’s unit sales in India thus, provoking a move to go big in the offline retail markets.

At present, 44% of the total units sold by Xiaomi are happening online which means brick & mortar and retail stores still have a major space to their name. The smartphone giant said that a mere 34% of unit sales come from retail stores when it comes to Xiaomi India. Compared to Samsung which has a 57% share in retail stores, Xiaomi’s number looks minimal. Samsung currently takes a market share of 20% of total units sold in India whereas Xiaomi takes 16% of the market share in the country.

Xiaomi currently has a store network of 18,000 and it is working with phone vendors and other parties to increase the count. According to Muralikrishnan B (Xiaomi India’s head), other markets such as Xiaomi TVs and security cameras are less competitive compared to the smartphone market.

Many stores have partnered with Xiaomi to display large hoardings outside and yet promote rival brands inside that influence the customer’s buying decision. The Chinese smartphone maker is working on increasing the number of promoters (salespersons) to lure prospective buyers by the end of next year to boost offline sales. The company is positive about boosting the numbers compared to the early 2023 levels.

Xiaomi targets a budget category of smartphones with its Redmi and Redmi Note series among others. It also pushes heavy numbers in terms of Mi sales. However, Samsung has a good hold in the premium sector with a bigger portfolio that caters to buyers’ specific requirements given the fact that India’s offline market is heading towards a premiumization trend.

Another challenge that Xiaomi India is going through is the ongoing freeze on bank assets worth $673 million following the illegal foreign remittances.