When I visited the
Xiaomi store in China, I was at once incredibly impressed and instantly reminded of the
Apple store - and that particular comparison with Apple has been something that Xiaomi has aspired for. The Xiaomi phones have been extremely popular in India not only for their resemblance with the iPhones but for their affordability, specs and design but mainly affordability. The company's mantra has been to provide technology at an affordable price. While the
Mi Stores in China looked a lot like Apple stores but it was a buzzing ‘Apple store’ filled with buyers, window shoppers, on lookers. The chic interior of the store resonated with the sleek and stylish Mi products and the crowd in the store would certainly be something that Apple could aspire to have in their stores. In China the Mi Homes have a variety of products from Laptops to
Air Purifier to Rice Cookers to even Scooters.
Xiaomi is finally going to unveil its first Mi store in
Bengaluru in India after selling its products online ever since it entered India in 2014. Opening of a Mi Store in India was waiting to happen, in this short span of a time Xiaomi has managed to become a household name. In a recent note, Singapore-based agency
Canalys placed Xiaomi on the number two position with 14% market share in Indian smartphone second only to Korean giant
Samsung, which had 22% market share. Xiaomi has a huge hold on the young, online savvy consumers which is why Canalys also said that Xiaomi’s success in India is underscored by its online go-to-market strategy. While Xiaomi is going to open its first ever store in India but it’s certain that Xiaomi will continue to have a strong online presence as has been the case in other markets like China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan where Xiaomi has already opened its stores.
India will be the fifth market for Xiaomi to open a
Mi Home in but it will be interesting to see what the company chooses to bring from the host of products available in its other markets. The company has already launched products like Air Purifier 2, power bank, Mi band in India other than its smartphones.
So while we wait and see what makes it to the Mi Home in India, here are the products I checked out at the Mi Home in China.