Xiaomi is planning to open 2,000 new stores all around the world within three years from now, the company’s Senior Vice President Wang Xiang told CNBC. In a statement provided earlier this week, Wang announced that the Chinese original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is targeting “almost every country,” adding that the firm is aiming to become a true “global player” in the near future. The tech giant’s executive declared Xiaomi’s worldwide ambitions only half a year after its Chief Executive Officer Lei Jun said that the company grew too quickly for its own good while not providing its annual smartphone sales figures for the first time in its seven years of existence. Lei’s previous comments implied that Xiaomi will put a much larger focus on sustainability in the coming years and while that may still be true, it seems that the firm is now also adamant to continue expanding its physical presence, both domestically and globally.
Xiaomi’s initial business strategy was focused on direct online sales, allowing the OEM to keep its operating costs low and pass those savings on to consumers, offering aggressively priced devices oriented at providing high value for money. That approach partially continues to this date, with even the Mi 6 flagship being significantly more affordable than its Android-powered peers with comparable hardware. Xiaomi’s distribution efforts weren’t as consistent since 2010 and the consumer electronics manufacturer has been investing significant resources in developing a robust physical retail network in recent years. Out of all the stores that the company is now planning to open by late 2020, half of them will be in China, Wang said, suggesting how the firm is still looking to prioritize its home country where it’s currently behind Huawei, OPPO, and Vivo in terms of shipments, according to most established market research firms.
While Xiaomi is now setting its sights on an increasing number of foreign markets, that global expansion is still expected to mostly encompass Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia in the immediate future, recent reports indicate. The company’s growing network of physical stores is also closely connected to its efforts to get consumers to try its products before purchasing them, thus having an opportunity to prove that an affordable price tag doesn’t equate to a low-quality user experience, Wang claims. An update on Xiaomi’s business endeavors should follow later this year.