In a surprising, yet unsurprising move, Xiaomi has tied up with Amazon and Snapdeal to sell its products in India through online channel. This means that smartphones, tablets, and other products from Xiaomi will not be exclusively available on Flipkart anymore.
A few weeks ago, Xiaomi tied up with Airtel to sell the Redmi Note 4G, and then with The Mobile Store to sell its smartphones through the offline channel. It also started selling accessories in India through its own website. All these steps were signs that Xiaomi no longer wants to be exclusive to Flipkart, and that it wants to increase its market reach.
Xiaomi has now ensured that its products can be sold through all the major e-commerce websites in India – Flipkart, Amazon, and Snapdeal. However, there are no clear details as to how it will continue with its 'flash sales' model, which has been a crucial reason for its success in China as well as India. Last year, Xiaomi managed to sell a million smartphones, and it has recently completed five years of its operations.
As of now, Amazon exclusively sells OnePlus One and Yu Yureka in India. On the other hand, Flipkart exclusively sells smartphones from Motorola, Xiaomi, and some devices from Asus, Huawei, Lenovo, and Alcatel. What do you think? Will Xiaomi be able to defeat the likes of Micromax, Lava, and Samsung in India?