Xiaomi has partnered with Just Buy Live and Innocomm to expand its offline distribution network, increasing its presence to more than 5000 offline outlets.
Just Buy Live follows a unique model of e-distribution, enabling the retailers, shopkeepers, and corporates to buy products directly from their e-platform. Innocomm, on the other hand, sells directly to customers via a single distributor. Called as direct-to-retail (DTR) model for distribution, this cuts several layers of distributors in between. Innocomm is the subsidiary distributor arm for Foxconn.
Commenting on the expansion, Manu Kumar Jain, India head - Xiaomi said,"We are primarily an e-commerce company and we have brought our learning from the online model to our offline model. We have chosen Just Buy Live and Innocomm because of their unique models that distribute directly to retailers. I believe that this strategic alliance will strengthen Mi India's presence across India. As we expand to more than 5000 offline outlets, it allows more people to experience our products and purchase them easily.”
The new expansion will enable Xiaomi smartphones to be available across major large format retailers including Sangeetha, Big C, LOT Mobiles, Poorvika and several pop stores. The smartphones that will be available in the new offline stores include Xiaomi Redmi 2, Redmi 2 Prime, Redmi Note Prime, Redmi Note 3 and Mi 5. The latest Mi Max will also be available in these stores starting July 13. According to the company, the prices of all devices will match those similar to the online prices.
Xiaomi started off in India as an online-exclusive smartphone major and sold its devices exclusively through Flipkart. Later, the company expanded its presence to other e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Snapdeal and Tata’s TataCliQ. Xiaomi also has its own online store, mi.com. The company has also made few tie-ups for offline sales with Airtel, The Mobile Store, Redington, etc.
