Xiaomi to open first Mi Home store in India next week

Xiaomi is now taking its offline stores to India - its biggest market outside China.

The first Mi Home store in the country is scheduled to launch in Bangalore next week, where consumers can experience a range of Xiaomi products.

Other countries that have Xiaomi's Mi Home stores are China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The company sent out invites to the store opening.

That Xiaomi is serious about India is a foregone conclusion.

It has witnessed uninhibited growth clocking $1 billion (S$1.4 billion) in sales in just two years of operations in the world's fastest-growing smartphone market.

It leads the pack of Chinese phone makers (Vivo, Oppo, Lenovo are the others) that have displaced India's homegrown brands (like Micromax) from the top five for the first time. Xiaomi occupied 10.7 per cent of the smartphone market here, trailing only Samsung, as latest IDC figures reveal.

Its Redmi series has been a runaway hit with value-conscious Indians. Xiaomi sold over 2.3 million units of the Redmi Note 3 in six months, making it the most-sold smartphone through online-only channels.

With the Mi Home store now, Xiaomi stands to bring itself a tad closer to its Indian consumers. One can walk into the 'experience' zones and soak in the Xiaomi ecosystem, from phones and mobile accessories to fitness bands and air purifiers.

It is not clear whether the Mi Home stores would double up as points of sale too. Xiaomi, in fact, is looking to ramp up its offline sales in India, targeting a quarter of its revenues from this channel.

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