Xiaomi focusing on improving distribution and retail network in Punjab

Chinese handset maker Xiaomi is focusing on improving its distribution and retail network in Punjab, a senior company official said here on Monday.

The company launched its Redmi 7A and Redmi K20 series here on Monday.

"We have expanded our service centres, both for TVs and smartphones and try and get more and more preferred partners in this space. We also got two Mi homes exclusive outlets which are in Chandigarh and Mohali," Xiaomi India Chief Marketing Officer Anuj Sharma said.

Asked about the launch of new phones, Sharma said, "This is first foray for us to get into the mid-premium segment. The whole idea was giving best possible experience to our consumers. We have improved the cameras-both front and back, we have added various elements to it. It's a splash proof design. We have also focused a lot on the design."

Redmi K20 Pro will be available for Rs 27,999 for the 6GB/128GB variant and Rs 30,999 for the 8GB/256 GB variant in flame red, glacier blue and carbon black.

 

He said the company has been holding on to number one spot in the market with about 30 per cent market share in the country.

"In the smartphone segment, we have seen some exits, some brands have kind of left the country, so there is some consolidation happening. A lot of offline brands are moving online now because online itself has become quite big. About two years back, we expanded beyond just online and started focusing on offline," he said.

From a growth perspective, Sharma pointed out that the industry hasn't really grown as per expectations in the last three years.

"There has been growth that has been coming in and IDC's forecast have been that, but if I remember about five years back the expectation was huge. The feature phone guys still haven't moved to the smartphone thing. Feature phone is about half of the country's mobile sales, the other half being smartphones, and the ratio has stayed like this for a couple of years now," he said.

Sharma said this could be attributed to multiple reasons with price being the main cause.

He said the company has also gained top spot in Smart TV segment.

"We have got Smart TVs, while we launched these only in February last year, we have already become number one in smart TVs with almost 39 per cent market share," he said.