Xiaomi to test store sales of phones to expand India reach
08 Jan 2015
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi said it could sell more models in Indian stores even as it pursued its primarily online-only strategy if it succeeded in selling enough Redmi Note 4G handsets through carrier Bharti Airtel shops, Reuters reported.
The company made its India entry with online retailer Flipkart.com in July, selling phones through flash sales whereby availability was limited to short time bursts (See: Flipkart sells 40,000 Xiaomi smartphones in seconds in flash sale). The online strategy cut down on marketing and distribution costs, which let Xiaomi sell feature-rich phones at low prices.
However, last week, Bharti Airtel said it would sell Redmi Note 4G handsets in six cities through 133 stores of India's biggest fourth-generation (4G) mobile network provider. In-store handset prices in India were comparable to online models as neither were sold with network chips or subsidised through pricing plans.
