New Delhi : Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is planning a big bang Diwali with more model launches and may bring new product categories to India this year, as it envisages to reduce time gap of launches globally and in its most important international market outside China.
The company is also hiring more people to provide service for the new products that could be launched here till the end of the year, including around Diwali. Meanwhile, it is ramping up capacities in existing plant for ensuring supplies of its new phone Redmi 3s which will go on open sale next week.
"We're definitely looking at launching few more product categories in India," said Manu Jain, head of India operations at Xiaomi, that has televisions, Mi Box that turns any TV into a smart TV, routers, air and water purifier, drones, laptops and smart rice cookers among other products.
"We're considering launching some of these products in India. It purely depends on how ready the market is and also our capability of giving availability and after sales service," he added.
Jain explained that the company wants to hire the right people for supporting new product categories, since for some of them separate sales, marketing, after-sales and technical support, are required which mean the logistics would be different from the ones that of selling a smartphone.
Xiaomi, which launched in India in July 2014, is selling more than 1 million phones each quarter now. Redmi Note 3 launched early this year has been its highest selling phone, with 1 million units from mid-March till June-end, and 6 lakh units in two months before that.
The Beijing headquartered company has launched four models including the Redmi 3s till August this year, far higher than the entire 2015 where it launched only one new model. Jain said though last year it focused on creating back-end capabilities for after sales service, manufacturing plant and in-house call centre, 2016 will be more about product launches.
"This year, we have six online platforms, excluding offline, so plans will be grand compared to previous years. We have to procure components, ramp up factories, so planning for Diwali is happening," he added.
In its first Diwali here, it sold 150,000 units of Red Mi 1s and 150,000 of power banks, in around two hours, and did similar numbers last year.
Xiaomi plans to put up a high number of Redmi 3s phones for an open sale on August 9 and August 14. All of these units will be made from its plant at Sri City, Andhra Pradesh.
While the company has announced expansion of its manufacturing plans with Foxconn, it is yet to finalise on where the new plants will come up, as discussions with several states are ongoing.
http://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes....i/53526627
The company is also hiring more people to provide service for the new products that could be launched here till the end of the year, including around Diwali. Meanwhile, it is ramping up capacities in existing plant for ensuring supplies of its new phone Redmi 3s which will go on open sale next week.
"We're definitely looking at launching few more product categories in India," said Manu Jain, head of India operations at Xiaomi, that has televisions, Mi Box that turns any TV into a smart TV, routers, air and water purifier, drones, laptops and smart rice cookers among other products.
"We're considering launching some of these products in India. It purely depends on how ready the market is and also our capability of giving availability and after sales service," he added.
Jain explained that the company wants to hire the right people for supporting new product categories, since for some of them separate sales, marketing, after-sales and technical support, are required which mean the logistics would be different from the ones that of selling a smartphone.
Xiaomi, which launched in India in July 2014, is selling more than 1 million phones each quarter now. Redmi Note 3 launched early this year has been its highest selling phone, with 1 million units from mid-March till June-end, and 6 lakh units in two months before that.
The Beijing headquartered company has launched four models including the Redmi 3s till August this year, far higher than the entire 2015 where it launched only one new model. Jain said though last year it focused on creating back-end capabilities for after sales service, manufacturing plant and in-house call centre, 2016 will be more about product launches.
"This year, we have six online platforms, excluding offline, so plans will be grand compared to previous years. We have to procure components, ramp up factories, so planning for Diwali is happening," he added.
In its first Diwali here, it sold 150,000 units of Red Mi 1s and 150,000 of power banks, in around two hours, and did similar numbers last year.
Xiaomi plans to put up a high number of Redmi 3s phones for an open sale on August 9 and August 14. All of these units will be made from its plant at Sri City, Andhra Pradesh.
While the company has announced expansion of its manufacturing plans with Foxconn, it is yet to finalise on where the new plants will come up, as discussions with several states are ongoing.
http://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes....i/53526627