Xiaomi Will Have 5K Stores In India By End Of Next Year

Chinese tech giant Xiaomi plans to have 5,000 of its stores open in India by the end of 2019.

“It’s been over a year since we started offering our products through offline retail, and we have seen strong growth there,” said Manu Jain, Xiaomi vice president and managing director for India, according to CNBC. “Offline retail is a huge segment in our country, with nearly 40 percent of the offline market focused in rural regions, and all of this should increase our offline sales and account for 50 percent of the company’s revenue by the end of next year.”

In a Twitter post, the company invited people to apply to run one of the stores, which will be based on its Mi retail model.

“Mi store is the ‘new retail’ model for rural India that gives flagship store experience to our rural customers,” said Xiaomi’s Twitter post, adding that the new stores would produce more than 15,000 jobs.

Xiaomi was recently awarded a Guinness World Record for simultaneously opening the largest number of retail stores in India. It currently has 500 stores in the country, and operates locations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Mexico.

The Chinese company is one of many retailers pursuing expansion in India. Earlier this month, Walmart India revealed it would be investing about $500 million to open 47 new stores by 2022. These stores would take the total number of Walmart locations in India to 70. Walmart also acquired online marketplace Flipkart for $16 billion in August.

Amazon is also making strides in the country. With more than 100 million registered users in India, it has been pushing to add to that customer base, including investing in infrastructure and partnering with local companies to boost its delivery capabilities. The rollout of its Prime loyalty program in India has driven tens of million of new customers to its platform.

“Amazon remains the most visited, most transacted, most trusted online marketplace in India,” said Amit Agarwal, Amazon India head. “We look forward to maintaining this momentum for the rest of the holiday season.”