Xiaomi: See how it managed to become the largest company in India in just 5 years.

H Xiaomi closed five years of operation in India on July 15, since it entered the market with Mi 3 in 2014.

ΈSince then, it has continued to surpass its milestones at an astonishing rate. The company started with smartphones, but soon expanded to tablets, gadgets, IoT and, very recently, lifestyle products. How did the Xiaomi to come out of the competition first in this time?

Back in 2014, the smartphone market in India was completely different than it is today. Local companies such as Micromax, Lava and Karbonn dominated the market with affordable but low quality devices. Motorola had announced the first generation Moto G and the Chinese were trying to explore this growing market. Xiaomi was the last to introduce the Mi 1 in mid-July.

The pricing of the latter made waves in the country. With a starting price of Rs 13,999 (203 euros) the Xiaomi Mi 3 was probably the first smartphone in India with top specifications and premium design in the price range below Rs 15.000. The interest in social media started to grow steadily and the first "foreign" flash-sale of the device on July 22, 2014 temporarily "crashed" Flipkart due to an unprecedented formality.

Flash sales

The concept of flash-sale was new in the Indian market. It was used to control demand while creating an ad of incalculable value for free. Xiaomi stepped on this success. It started to introduce other economical models, Redmi 1S, Redmi Note, Mi 4, all through flash sales. While Motorola unveiled its online-only sales strategy in early 2014, Xiaomi stepped up its market reach with the same model.

Many companies soon followed suit. The flash-sale sales model did not work by accident. It worked because Xiaomi offered something that no other company provided during this period. New customers had access to high-tech specifications at low prices, while MIUI received a great deal of attention due to its community-focused strategy.

The first few months were great for Xiaomi in India as they struggled to meet the demand for hugely popular phones like the Mi 3 and Redmi 1S. However, in 2015, the company fell in sales and public interest with the more expensive Mi 4. Its fans criticized it for no longer providing VFM phones. The company listened and silently withdrew its flagship series from the Indian market. The Xiaomi Mi 5 was the last premium mobile phone to debut in India.

After the big decline, 2016 was the year that Xiaomi not only recovered but was financially saved by the change of sales model in China where Huawei, Vivo and Oppo dominated the province with regular stores. Facing criticism for the product selection it brought to India last year, Xiaomi announced the Redmi 3 in January 2016, followed by the Redmi Note 3 in February. These two phones shaped its strategy in India. The latter became the highest selling smartphone in India, a record that was soon broken by its successor.

Another big aspect of Xiaomi's gigantic growth in India is its loyal fan base. Before the company, two Chinese companies, the Vivo and Gionee were trying to figure out the Indian market but failed to build a community. Xiaomi did this by involving its fans in the decision-making process. The MIUI forums were the platform where phone owners asked for things, things that the company was soon implementing on their devices. Xiaomi has made its customers a part of itself, evoking a sense of kinship.

My Stores

Simultaneously with the change of sales model in China, Xiaomi started selling its mobile phones in stores. The company automatically became vulnerable to both Chinese and Indian companies. However, once again, the company has adopted a new strategic approach by opening exclusive stores (Mi Store) while collaborating with selected chains instead of providing its mobile phones in bulk in the market. This gave an elite character that the Indian public had not seen outside of Apple. At the same time, production was maintained at reasonable levels, maintaining the balance of online and offline sales. And appliances were on the shelves and the warehouses were not filled with unallocated stock.

Xiaomi India started as a start-up that relied on providing an excellent VFM ratio and word-of-mouth advertising to sell its products. Since then it has established itself as the largest smartphone seller in the country. She has Bollywood stars for her ads, she has huge sums in magazines and newspapers. It brings mobile phones designed with the Indian public in mind such as the Redmi Note 7 and Redmi K20 / K20 Pro selling at an incredible rate. At the same time, it strengthens the TV market in which it became the first in the country in just two years and promotes all its products, be it IoT or lifestyle products such as clothing.

Samsung and the BBK group with Realme/Vivo they will not give up the fight it seems and their offers are getting better and better. The Vivo S1 Pro and Realme X are amazing while the Koreans have dropped prices to previously unheard of points. Let's see how the year will close for the "start-up" from Beijing.

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