Popular retail chain Big Bazaar today revealed that it will start selling Xiaomi phones soon, beginning with the Redmi 4 and the Redmi Note 4. This comes after Xiaomi’s steady expansion of its offline presence via multiple chains and its own Mi Home stores.
Over the last few launches, Xiaomi has continued to expand its offline partnerships. Notably, the Mi A1 that was launched last month in India was made available across different offline retail chains in the country. Prior to that, Xiaomi had also announced that devices like the Redmi Note 4 will be made available offline in retail chains like Sangeetha Mobiles, LOT, Big C, Univercell and more.
Wait no more! Xiaomi is coming soon to your nearest Big Bazaar, so get ready to have your very own Redmi 4 & Redmi Note 4! @XiaomiIndia pic.twitter.com/DrzXh9eaY3
— Big Bazaar (@BigBazaar) October 7, 2017
In addition to partnerships with existing offline retail chains, Xiaomi has also been opening new Mi Home stores in some major cities across the country. At the moment, the company has Mi Home stores in Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi and Bengaluru.
With Xiaomi witnessing a spurt of growth in its sales, expanding its offline footprint makes a lot of sense. Its rivals Oppo and Vivo have invested a lot in bolstering their offline footprint throughout the country, while Xiaomi chose to focus on the online channel initially, building partnerships with e-commerce giants like Flipkart and Amazon.
However, now is probably the best time for Xiaomi to start growing its offline reach. The company recently announced that it has shipped over 10 million smartphones in September globally, and sold over 25 million smartphones in India in the 3 years of its existence. Over a million of those sales came during the Flipkart Big Billion Days and Amazon’s Great Indian Festival sales.
Collaborating with existing retail chains like Big Bazaar and other smartphone retailers should provide the company with the next round of growth.