Xiaomi lands in France and Italy – UK next?
Xiaomi looks to have no interest in slowing down. Today it has taken a major step forward in its global expansion by announcing its arrival in France. Furthermore, it will open in Italy in two days time. This comes just six months after its official entry into Spain, its first Western European market, where, in Q1 2018, it had already become the #3 smartphone vendor.
With today’s news, Xiaomi has entered 74 markets globally. According to Canalys, Xiaomi was Europe’s #4 smartphone brand by shipments in Q1 2018, with Year on Year growth of over 999%. What makes these figures even more impressive is that, until very recently, the only way to get Xiaomi phones was online. Furthermore, this all points to Xiaomi landing in the UK very soon.
Xiaomi in France and Italy
Xiaomi is bringing all three parts of its “triathlon” business model to France. This comprises of (i) innovative, high quality and well-designed hardware focused on exceptional user experience, (ii) highly efficient new retail allowing for our products to be priced accessibly and (iii) engaging internet services.
What this means to us is that it the company has a French version of its very own e-commerce site Mi.com and the first Authorised Mi Store to Paris. Additionally, it has partnered with e-commerce platforms such as Cdiscount, Amazon, Auchan, Boulager, FNAC, DARTY and Carrefour. Also, there’s local offline retailers, including FNAC and DARTY, who will present a broad range of innovative products across France.
Furthermore, the company is also cooperating with four major French telecoms operators: Orange, SFR, Bouygues and Free. There will offer users an attractive option to renew their smartphones.
More than phones
Alongside smartphones Xiaomi is also the world’s largest consumer IoT platform in terms of the number of connected devices (excluding smartphones and laptops), with more than 100 million connected devices.
This translates to a 1.7% global market share of consumer IoT hardware by number of connected devices as of December 31, 2017. To help that sink in a little, Apple has 0.9%, as does Amazon, and 0.6% for Google.
More information
For more information on the products available in France, visit http://www.mi.com/fr.
I am sure that we will see Xiaomi officially in the UK before Autumn, at this rate. This will scare the usual suspects, no doubt.
Mark my words.
