Xiaomi Bets Big On Rural India: Opens 500+ Mi Stores, To Add 5K More By 2019

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi said that it has opened more than 500 Mi Stores across villages in India by October 29. Manu Kumar Jain, the global vice president of Xiaomi and the managing director of Xiaomi India, shared the development in a social media post.

“Xiaomi is opening rural #MiStore with ‘New Retail’ concept across the country. These are exclusive stores that bring Xiaomi’s flagship experience to rural consumers,” he said.

Located across 14 states, the all new Mi Stores have an average size of 300 sq ft. and reflect the signature design of Xiaomi’s Mi home stores.

“Mi Stores display futuristic interiors with minimalist concept, offering customers the valuable opportunity to experience and purchase all Xiaomi products of India under one roof,” the company said.

Xioami India plans to open 5000 Mi Stores by the end of 2019 and is looking to generate more than 15,000 jobs. The new Mi Store outlets will serve as Xiaomi’s prime retail stores situated in several towns ranging from tier 3, 4, 5 and below.

In an earlier Facebook post on November 19, Jain claimed that this new business will forever change rural retail in India and will probably break many records.

The Mi Store project is being led by Sunil Baby, who has earlier led Xiaomi’s offline teams as a regional sales manager at Xiaomi India.

With these initiatives, the brand has rapidly expanded its offline presence in rural India. These stores can also be found in some of the most remote corners of the nation, showcasing the brand’s vast outreach.

For example, Xiaomi opened Mi Stores in Moreh which is 650 kms from Guwahati located on India-Burma border and just 100 meters away from Burma, and also in Aalo (Along) in Arunachal Pradesh which is the last town of India bordering China.

As part of Xiaomi’s extensive efforts to boost entrepreneurship in the rural sector, the company is encouraging Mi Fans from small towns and villages, and other local individuals to run and operate these stores.

India has grown as one of Xiaomi’s key markets since its entry into the country in 2014. Not only, it is deepening its presence in the market by introducing options such as Mi Credit and supporting the government moves such as Startup India and data localisation but is also putting on shelf products such as smartwatches, air purifiers, water purifiers, televisions among others.

Analysts claim that Xiaomi smartphones have a 30.4% share in the Indian market, which makes it the top selling brand by volume compared to other major players such as Samsung, Nokia, Oppo and others.

Further, the company had earlier announced that the Indian market contributed close to a third of its total global revenue of $18 Bn in 2017, via three of its top-five sales channels.

While it reported a near 152% jump in its yearly revenue from overseas operations in Q2 2018, earlier this week on Monday (November 19), Xiaomi claimed that it had made a profit in the third quarter, driven by robust sales in India and Europe.