Xiaomi had been mulling over expanding its sales operations — which are conducted online at the moment — to offline mediums as well and indeed had plans to open Mi stores at various locations across the world.
For that purpose, Xiaomi tested the waters in UK, Germany, France, and the United States and it seems like the test phase went well, for Xiaomi has announced its intention to fully launch its store in these markets.
Although the stores opened in these locations will still not stock the Mi phones and will only retail secondary products — such as the Mi Band ($14.99),the 5000 mAh power bank ($9.99), the 10500 mAh power bank ($13.99) and the high-end headphone set ($79.99) — the quantities will be much less restricted as compared to before. Also, Xiaomi can be expected to add other accessories and even stock handsets in the near future.
For now though, the Chinese manufacturer seems content to stock accessories and we assume that patent issues along with the fact that Xiaomi will wish to tweak and twist the software along with the UI to suit the needs of the western customers before the launch of its phones and tablets in Europe and the US. Lets also not forget the fact that expansion of this sort must invariably be followed by support structures such as customer care centers to cater to the need of the new customers.
Well, judging by the success of Xiaomi in the eastern continent we can expect great things in “store” for the Chinese manufacturer as it takes its first steps along the road to winning customers on the other side of the world.
The Mi stores will launch officially in the UK, Germany, France and the US on the 1st of June. Good luck Xiaomi!!
