Xiaomi has done their own customer service and warranty repairs since entering India back in 2014, but that is all set to change in the very near future due to their new deal with renowned customer service provider B2X. Under the terms of the deal, B2X will set up shop in strategic retail locations throughout the country and perform the support and repair functions that Xiaomi has been performing for customers at their own roughly 200 locations. B2X will be setting up using their own B2X Smartbars, which can be set up in most any retail location. For the moment, B2X has not made it clear in what locations they plan to set up shop over time, but they do already have 31 walk in centers set up across India. Xiaomi’s own 200 service centers are a good guess for where B2X will head next, though there is nothing concrete at the moment. With the involvement of the Smartbar, more popular and local retail locations are also likely.
Xiaomi and B2X are not strangers, nor is B2X exclusive to India. They’re an international after-sales service provider, and Xiaomi already has a somewhat similar deal with them in Europe, where customers seeking warranty repair or any kind of in-person support with Xiaomi accessories can head to their nearest B2X Smartbar location, rather than seeking out a Xiaomi store or having to mail their accessory to China. Under the contract in Europe, just about anything a customer can buy from Xiaomi that’s not a phone, tablet, or laptop is fair game for B2X to provide customer support.
Since India is one of the largest smartphone markets in the world and Xiaomi seems to be doing quite well there, B2X’s CEO, Rainer Koppitz, took a moment to make clear just how much the deal means to the company, saying that it is a “great honor” to tie up with Xiaomi in India, and that B2X will “add a lot of value” to Xiaomi’s India operations. Xiaomi’s overseas service senior manager, Liu Tao, called B2X “an important strategic partner” in Xiaomi’s growth-focused strategy for continued operations in India. Right now, there is no word on expansion of the partnership to other countries.