Xiaomi enters offline sales for first time, partners with Big Bazaar

To boost its offline sales during festivals, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has partnered with Big Bazaar, a supermarket chain from Future Group with over 240 stores in India to sell Redmi Note 4 and Redmi 4.

The tie-up, which was made public by the head of India operations Manu Jain through social media posts, would be the first of its kind for the brand which was online only, till the year before.

Great news: @XiaomiIndia has partnered with @BigBazaar (240+ stores) to sell #RedmiNote4 and #Redmi4 during this festive period.  (1/3) pic.twitter.com/xtwWZD9eJ5

— Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) October 11, 2017

Following the partnership, Mi fans can buy Redmi 4 and Redmi Note 4 phones at special prices at Big Bazaar. In addition to this, customers can also grab these smartphones through No-cost EMI offers in association with Bajaj Finserv. Plus there are special discount offers on all ICICI Bank Credit and Debit card users.

Commenting on the partnership Manu Kumar Jain said, "This journey started a few months ago when I first met Mr. Kishore Biyani to discuss a potential collaboration with the Future group. We agreed to do something together. During one of the brainstorming sessions, we agreed to try out something new - sell phones through Big Bazaar, something that no other brand has tried before! We at Xiaomi India, are always trying out new things."

Xiaomi is planning to replicate its China model in India by aiming to emerge as an internet company through monetising services such as finance and entertainment. The Chinese smartphone making company wants 30% of its sales to come from the offline market by the year-end. This could be leveraged through the partnership.

In a recent interview with Mint, Kishore Biyani said that they are a consumer goods company, not a retailer anymore. Retail is the distribution part of their consumer business, and having own brands in food and fashion, his company delivering it through their own retail chain.

Xiaomi is bullish on the Indian internet market where it has emerged as the frontrunner in the smartphone space. Besides, it is going to redefine the Indian market with a steep revenue of $2 billion it plans to generate this year, twice the amount from 2016.

BigBazar