Skip to main content

The Rise of Xiaomi in India



Xiaomi is a privately owned Chinese electronics major headquartered in the Haidian district of downtown Beijing. It was founded by Mr. Lei Jun in 2010 and is the world’s fourth largest smartphone producer, designing, developing, and selling smartphones, mobile apps, laptops, and related consumer electronics.

In July 2014, Xiaomi launched its first smartphone, the Mi 3, in India. It was a small press conference with a handful of media in a small hall -- not the usual hotel ballroom where most press conferences happen.


The company entered the market in partnership with Flipkart, India's leading online retailer, using hunger marketing tactics to market its value-for-money smartphones. Interested customers had to register for the sale, and Xiaomi only made available a limited stock of devices that were sold out in a few seconds.

While Xiaomi smartphones mostly got positive reviews, and sold well in a quick timeframe, the company had limited scope and more than one challenge.

The sloppy after-sales support experience and non-availability of spare parts hurt customer experience and brand reputation. There was also an irrational disdain for "made-in-China" products in general.

Also, while the flash sales created hype, it also annoyed a lot of potential customers as well as technology writers who found it awkward to recommend a device that was hard to procure.


Also lack of presence in offline space had become one of the determinants for Xiaomi's slowing growth as its e-commerce driven business model has hit a ceiling. Even in China, Vivo and OPPO started to edge out Xiaomi as the country's top phone makers.

Yet, business continued to grow for Xiaomi in India. In just two years of doing business in the country, Xiaomi's revenue in India exceeded $1 billion last year.

In October, the company sold a million smartphones in just 18 days as online retailers like Flipkart and Amazon went into overdrive with discounts and promotions for the festive season which typically starts from October before Diwali, the Hindu festival which marks the biggest shopping season in the country, and continues until the end of the year with different festivals celebrated by diverse communities and religions across the country.


India is an extremely important market in Xiaomi's globalization strategy and the company now aims to capture the largest market share in the country within three to five years.

For Xiaomi, globally as well as in India, the business mantra revolves around a strong belief that high-end technology should not necessarily imply “selling one’s kidney” and should be available to consumers of all income categories. According to business gurus, Xiaomi’s continuous focus in the mid-price segment of smartphones with feature-rich and advanced hardware has reaped rich dividends amongst the middle-class Indian populace, where ‘value for money’ is an integral part of the decision-making process while buying a smartphone rather than ‘brand power’. This, coupled with the emergence of a new middle class in the last 10-15 years has been the driving force behind Xiaomi’s exceptional performance in India.


By
Syed Salman
Labels:
Location: Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

17 *Fierce* Female Characters The Harry Potter Series Gave Us - Thank You, J.K. Rowling.

Harry Potter is a universe with endless possibilities of twists, turns and probabilities. Maybe that is the reason that there are so many fan-fics and theories that exist still, even after the last chapter closed on us, ending the saga. J.K. Rowling gave us a bevy of characters to remember, for good or bad, through the magical world that she created, and amongst them, today we are going to talk about a few. We bring to you some of the fiercest female characters from the series - you obviously know them all, but they need to be talked and written about. Here we go... 1. Hermione Granger She was not just the brightest witch of her age, but also the bravest one. At the tender age of eleven, when one doesn't even know how to fathom a situation, she chose her path wisely, stuck by her friends in their quest to finish off the evillest wizard of all times, and displayed an extraordinary knack for not just spell-casting, but logic, bravery and knowledge. 2. Bellatrix...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tips to Keep You Motivated While Writing a Book

 At one point of time every reader has the urge to write a book. But many of them lose the fire due to lack of motivation. Well, here are some tips you can follow if you start writing. 1. Remember the reason why you are writing Why did you start your book in the first place? It helps to keep your eye on the prize. It may be to see your story finished or your non-fiction ideas flowing into a cohesive form in a proposal so you can approach a literary agent. Experts have found that people fall into one of three intrinsic motivational categories; that is, most individuals are motivated more or less by one of three things: challenge, affinity, or power. If you're an author who's motivated by challenge — going for a tough goal and then nailing it — then finishing a book might be a no-brainer . If you're motivated by affinity, then your motivation is the connection to and bonding with other people. You might be better off framing your "prize" in terms o...
Post a Comment
Read more

BJP vs Congress: Who Wins Gujarat?

Counting of votes in this year's biggest electoral battle - the Gujarat election - is just a couple of days away. Save the date: December 18.While you wait for the results, we've broken down the results of the Gujarat exit polls for you. Squib Link predicts that BJP will comfortably win the home game in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state. But what are the best and worst case Gujarat election result scenarios for the BJP and the Congress? We've analyzed the exit poll results put out by other channels, and broken down the numbers for you. Remember, the finishing line in the Gujarat election is 92 (91 + 1) seats (in a legislature with 182) BJP's BEST CASE SCENARIO: 128 seats Gujarat exit poll says Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party will bag as many as 128 seats - more than a two-thirds majority. If this turns out to be the case, it will be a body blow for the Congress. While it's not the 150 seat-tally that BJP President Amit Shah ta...
Post a Comment
Read more