In a bid to proliferate in the offline market, Xiaomi on Monday launched Mi Express Kiosk initiative in India. As the name suggests, the company is installing small vending machines across metro cities at locations that have a high footfall, such as shopping malls, metro stations, airports, and tech parks. The vending machine showcases popular Xiaomi smartphones and mobile accessories that can be bought instantly.
Xiaomi’s Mi Express Kiosks will accept all types of payments including credit card, debit card, UPI, and cash, much like the regular vending machines for food items and more. The machine will house retail boxes of various products, although the company has not said if the latest smartphones and accessories will be put on a display that can be bought.
In a company release, Xiaomi claims that smartphones and mobile accessories that have been placed inside can be bought for the same pricing as inside Mi Home Store, as well as their listings on Mi.com. This means that the products can be bought at MOP, instead of MRP. the vending machines will operate between 10 am and 8 pm on all days.
The vending machines follow the same setup Xiaomi introduced in China last year. But the company says the technologies equipping Mi Express Kiosks were “researched and developed” in India.
Since the offline market for Xiaomi is largely constituted of two-tier and three-tier cities, the company is aiming to set up more vending machines to “gradually expand the retail plan” in the coming months. But the metro cities will also see more such kiosks over time spread across locations, Xiaomi said.
Xiaomi recently launched the Redmi Note 7 Pro and Redmi Y3 in India to expand its smartphone line, which has been seeing stiff competition from Realme. Both the brands are also launching their first flagship phones in China, both being speculated to bear the letter ‘X’. however, a Xiaomi official refuted the rumours to say Redmi’s flagship will not be called Redmi X. Meanwhile, Realme X is still on the cards and the launch is set for May 15.
