Xiaomi ended its exclusive partnership with Flipkart and joined hands with new online partners Amazon and Snapdeal to sell its products in India, continuing its moves aimed at widening its distribution channel, with analysts saying that its online-only strategy has reached a saturation point, as indicated by its dipping import numbers.

This latest move comes on the back of the company's decision to tap brick and mortar retailer The Mobile Store to sell its devices, a global first for the Chinese phone maker which indicates the existing reach limitations of the online-only channel. Import data from Cybex Exim Solutions available with ET showed that monthly imports for the company popularly called the Apple of China have consistently fallen over the last few months - from 334,000 units in December 2014 to 140,000 units till March-end 2015, with overall sales over 1.86 million units till date.

Manu Jain, head of India operations at Xiaomi didn't comment on the import data but countered analysts' notions that falling online numbers lead to the company's offline move.

"Online is much smaller today, but it is growing really fast. This is just like China when e-commerce started off there," he said. "This trend (buying online) will only increase in the coming years. I am a big believer of online as the benefits are multiple," Jain added.

Analysts,however, say that while some of the import dip could be due to seasonality, Xiaomi has realised that its online-only strategy will get them only so far, and if it wants to tap a greater market share, it needs to rely more on the offline model.

IDC's senior analyst Karan Thakkar said that falling import numbers could be reflective of lower registrations for the brand.

By: DocMemory
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