After a successful year-long partnership with Flipkart, Chinese start up Xiaomi is setting up stores on Amazon and Snapdeal as well.
A note from Xiaomi India head Manu Jain said, “Mi Stores will be created on Snapdeal and Amazon, where customers can choose from a range of Mi phones and accessories. The Mi stores go live today (April 7), while the sale starts on April 8, 12 noon.”
The note said the the shift in strategy will mark the Mi Fan Festival (#MiFanFest), which is is coming to India for the first time ever to celebrate the startup’s fifth birthday.
As part of the #MiFanFest, the Mi 4 will be on a special one-day discount of Rs. 2,000 off on April 8 only. The Mi 4 (16GB) will be available for Rs 17,999 (usually priced at Rs. 19,999) and Mi 4 (64GB) for Rs 21,999 (usually priced at Rs. 23,999).
The Redmi Note 4G will come with a free set of Mi In-ear Headphones on Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon. Those buying the device from Airtel and The Mobile Store will get a 5200 mAh Mi Power Bank free.
The Redmi 2 will be available with all partners without pre-registration. The Mi Pad will be on all online partners.
In the note, Manu Jain said: “We are glad to give Mi fans more options to purchase Mi products. We are truly excited to be working with a variety of partners and expect these partnerships to be super successful.”
Hugo Barra, Vice President, Xiaomi Global, the festival is a huge online party that they throw every year to bring Mi fans together all around the world for a day of non-stop celebration. “It is our way of thanking our fans for their huge support. We’re super thrilled to have Mi India joining the party this year and look forward to spending many more birthdays together.”
Tony Navin, Senior Vice President, Electronics and Home, Snapdeal.com said he believes their extensive delivery network panning across Tier 2 & 3 cities and towns of India will be of great value to Xiaomi in reaching out to a segment of consumers seeking true value in their devices.
After very successful flash sales over the past baby months on Flipkart, the Chinese manufacturer of affordable smartphones has been experimenting with offline models too. So while the 4G version of the Redmi Note us available at Airtel stores, it had also announced a recent partnership with Mobile Store to sell its models.
Incidentally, in what could be an indication of a slight fall in the popularity of Xiaomi’s phones, their flash sales now last well over 10 seconds compared to the two seconds it took to sell of inventory in the first many weekly sales.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Xiaomi finally launches its own portal. After all, the company considers itself an e-commerce player.