Xiaomi has been making major moves to consolidate its position in India and announced the opening of its first Mi Home in Bangalore. While a sneak peak was given to the media, the store will open to the public on May 20. Users will be able to pre-book smartphones from May 16 against an advance payment of Rs. 1,000 assuring them a device on the day.
Mi Home will be closely interlinked to the Mi.com website and can be viewed as its physical avatar. Xiaomi VP, Manu Jain stated that they wanted to bypass the various inefficiencies of a traditional offline model like distribution layers, rent, promoters, scalability, load time and more by selling directly to the consumer. For now the stores will be operated by a partner until Xiaomi receives the license to operate a single brand retail in the country.
Anyone can walk into the store which can be located in varying areas like malls or even office buildings to view the devices. Larger Mi Home stores will feature an experience store that will display unreleased products in India. The company will be noting feedback on them and estimating interest on which ones to sell here. While nothing is set in stone, there were a few subtle hints dropped about releasing products made specifically for the local market.
The stores will be offering the entire Indian product lineup and promise to keep a ready stock of all products. In the scenario where a particular product isn’t available, the prospective customer will be handed an f-code at the spot which allows them to buy the product on Mi.com. The current Indian portfolio includes products like mobile phones, accessories, fitness bands and air purifiers.
Xiaomi will soon be opening similar stores in major metros like Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. In the next two years, there are plans to launch at least 100 stores across the country. Their newest product, the Redmi 4, will be hitting Indian shores next week.