Xiaomi to set up 100 'experience' stores in India in 2015

Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone maker, said on Thursday that it will open 100 stores in India in 2015 to help domestic consumers 'experience' the company's devices, but will not sell them at these stores.

Xiaomi, whose low-priced but feature-rich smartphones have made it the biggest smartphone vendor in China, entered the domestic smartphone market, which is the third-largest in the world, in July and sells its phones primarily through flash sales on online retailer Flipkart.com.

The 'service and experience stores' would be set up over 500 to 1,000 square feet and will launch in cities including Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore in the first week of April, Manu Jain, Xiaomi's India head, told reporters in the national capital at the launch of the handsetmaker's latest budget smartphone.

Though the company started selling its Redmi Note 4G handsets through outlets of Bharti Airtel, the top domestic telecom operator, in January, it was not in "active discussions with any other offline partner", Jain said.

(Reuters)