No one can take away the credit from Xiaomi through its Redmi smartphones that really propelled growth of smartphone base in India. Before Xiaomi’s entry in India, the total sales of smartphones in India were less than 100 million a year, and after it brought it latest technology (4G) along with several features in the affordability segment, the sales grew 1.5 times even when we saw some of the stable brands at that time witnessing a sharp downfall.
From manufacturing to sales, Xiaomi has remained partner heavy. It still uses partner facilities to manufacture its smartphones and other devices in India along with leveraging sales power of e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart. For the past few years, it has now also been establishing its direct connect with customers through exclusive retail stores. While online marketplaces do get credit for its substantial growth in these years, it also should be credited with successfully being among pioneers of D2C in smartphones through its Mi.com e-store. Xiaomi’s own e-store even reached 35-40% contribution of total online sales. For other brands, its still nascent. However, Samsung and OnePlus have also emerged as growing players in D2C.
There are many changes that Xiaomi effected on the smartphone industry in India. Some were good and some did create a discomfort for the incumbents. But, if we look at the overall impact, it has been a positive one on the industry as well as consumers, which is the most important thing for any brand to result in.
These 9 years can truly be called as Mi9 years, where millions of Indian consumers were able to discover the ‘me’ in them through innovative yet affordable products, especially smartphones from Xiaomi. There are millions of creative folks using their Mi smartphones generate engaging and informative content. Similarly, many app-led last mile beneficiaries – be it riders, couriers, drivers, etc., are able to leverage the digital revolution through a Xiaomi device which is letting them connect to very transformative digital platforms to earn their livelihood.
Then there are several creative people who have been able to find ‘me’ in them and are today successful influencers in their own genres of art, culture, music, dance and what not. A lot of such creative ‘hobbypreneurs’ saw all this happening only because they were able to afford a Redmi smartphone.
Even today, when we randomly scroll through reels and other such engaging user generated content, we find millions of Xiaomi users continuing to unleash their creativity, make a living for themselves by becoming atmanirbhar and passing on useful information or simply entertaining people. Apart from serious benefits, one cannot deny the fact that these platforms have become an integral source of joyous and ‘take a break’ mediums.
After Samsung’s J series, Redmi has been the most successful series in the history of smartphones in India, which then recently graduated to a full-fledged brand. There are very few such examples we get in the entire history of smartphones in India. Micromax’s canvas and in recent times, OnePlus Nord are other great examples to highlight when we look at the performances of various smartphone series.
The youth of India, which is one of the strongest strengths of country’s prosperity and socio-economic development, was undoubtedly empowered by Redmi since the digital revolution kickstarted in India. Its not just Redmi’s contribution, there are other brands also which added to it, but going by the records and facts, Redmi’s contribution has been the most significant one. In this spirit we can definitely say that these have been the Mi9 years of smartphone industry in India. However, there is a transition going on at the moment and we are seeing Xiaomi reacting to the changes by realigning several things which I believe should start paying off in a few quarters from now. But whatever is stored in future, Xiaomi, especially through its Redmi portfolio has empowered millions of creative, energetic, self-actualised youths of India, who have really made this a Mi9 decade. Hope to see its contribution only growing in the India’s tryst and zeal for becoming a $5 trillion economy and leading the new world order in many ways.
