Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has become the leader of single brand retail network with the largest exclusive brand retail network in India, said a study on Monday conducted by Channelplay, a retail and channel solution provider.
Xiaomi's retail network is inclusive of all the single brand retail outlets viz. Xiaomi - Mi Home, Mi Studio and Mi Stores. The second dominant player also belonged to the electronics category - Samsung India, followed by Cafe Coffee Day(CCD), Dominos India, and Bata making it to the top five.
"A large proportion of consumers prefer a physical product experience before buying and another significant proportion is reluctant in making financial transactions online, especially for high value products. This has largely established the need for brand experience stores," Sundeep Holani, CEO, Channelplay said in a statement.
In the study conducted, industries retailing a physical product were audited across apparel, footwear, jewellery, watches, electronics, pharmacy, furniture, furnishings and more.
A few of the other popular brands which were evaluated were HP, Lenovo, Kohler, McDonalds, Subway, Puma, Ferns & Petals, Benetton, More Supermarket, Reliance Fresh and Baskin Robbins.
During the recently concluded festive sales, Xiaomi claimed to have sold over 12 million devices between September 28 and October 29. It translates to a 40% growth over the last years’ festive sales.
"The festive season has always been the biggest shopping season for Xiaomi and we work hard celebrate it with our Mi Fans," Raghu Reddy, Head of Categories and Online sales, Xiaomi India, had said in a statement.
During the period, the company sold over 8.5 million smartphones, with Redmi Note 7 series being the best selling series. The company also sold over 600,000 Mi TVs during the period.
"Our festive sales have soared beyond expectations where we have sold an industry leading 12 million plus devices across our platforms," he said.
Last year, the company sold over 8.5 million devices.
Xiaomi devices include Xiaomi smartphones, Mi TVs, Mi ecosystem and accessory products that were sold across mi.com, Mi Home, Flipkart, Amazon and offline partner stores.