Xiaomi is partnering with Indian brick-and-mortar distributors Just Buy Live and Innocomm to significantly expand its offline presence in the country. The manufacturer has thus far offered its phones exclusively online, but with companies like Oppo and Vivo making a lot of headway in the offline space in Tier 2 cities, Xiaomi is following suit by making its handsets available at chain retail stores like Sangeetha Mobiles, Lot Mobiles, Big C, and more. The Redmi 2, Redmi 2 Prime, Redmi Note Prime, Redmi Note 3, and the Mi 5 will be accessible from over 5,000 retail stores across India.
The company is following a direct-to-retail strategy with Just Buy Live and Foxconn-owned Innocomm, cutting out intermediary distributors. Commenting on the partnership, Xiaomi India head Manu Kumar Jain said:
We are primarily an e-commerce company and we have brought our learning from the online model to our offline model. We have chosen Just Buy Live and Innocomm because of their unique models that distribute directly to retailers.I believe that this strategic alliance will strengthen Mi India's presence across India. As we expand to more than 5000 offline outlets, it allows more people to experience our products and purchase them easily.
