Avoiding the mistakes of the past is key

Xiaomi’s supposedly officially re-entering the PH market later this month via their first officially authorized store on the 17th. It’s set to be a warm homecoming for a brand that silently exited the market a few years ago because of low sales and interest. From what we gather the brand has a brand-new strategy to conquer the market, and while they certainly have their fair share of fans, the marketplace is as cut-throat and as competitive as ever. Here’s 4 things off the top of our head that the company needs to do to dominate the competition:

Make warranty and repairs as painless as possible

While Xiaomi hasn’t been in the country officially for a while now, there’s been plenty of grey market sellers that have been filling the void. Because of how the market works, there’s really no other reason for buyers to go with Xiaomi’s official stores once the company’s retail efforts go into full swing aside from enjoying the coverage of an official warranty. Why bother if you can get the same devices from other sellers, for potentially lower cost, right?

To combat this, the company needs to leverage on what only they can offer: official warranty. But they’ll have to go one step further, and maybe offer extended warranties as well as ensure that repairs and warranty claims are as painless and as fast as possible. Filipinos are willing to pay a little more to have that extra insurance policy, and with an official presence, Xiaomi is a unique position to offer what grey sellers can’t.

Offer products sold in other markets in record time

One of the biggest gripes we had with Xiaomi before was the long lead time between announcement and product release of their latest phones. It’s also the same thing that led to the rise of grey market sellers of their products. So if Xiaomi really is serious this time, they’ll need to make sure that their stores get the latest products as soon as possible before grey market sellers get their stocks.

Have a wider portfolio of products this time around

The limited number of Xiaomi devices available for sale in the company’s first foray into the Philippines really hurt them, big time. Xiaomi’s a company known for offering a wide variety of products, from smartphones to TVs to robot vacuums and children’s toys. Obviously they can’t offer their entire product portfolio in the Philippines – that would be a little ridiculous – but they’ll need to offer a good, robust offering of products from the low-end all the way to the top-end, with a few weird and cool things thrown in between.

Keep prices as close to original

The entire appeal of Xiaomi’s devices are the high specs and relatively low pricing that they come with. We were a little antsy how much of an additional burden of having an official presence would be on pricing, the Mi A1 is set to retail at Php 10,990, which is lower than the INR 13,999 price that the phone has in India, one of Xiaomi’s key markets. Hopefully the pricing for the brand’s devices stay close to the original moving forward.