[Global Network Technology Reporter Chen Jian] Xiaomi has created a new model for online sales on the Internet. It has reached an amazing height and made it the most valuable start-up company in Asia, but then it is in trouble. Now, Xiaomi will seek to rely on traditional retail to return to its peak.
The manufacturer of this smart phone is undergoing a major turning point. Xiaomi’s goal is to prepare the channel to be extended below the line by 2020 and to open at least 1,000 retail stores, which is about twice as large as Apple’s Apple Store. Global offline retail sales will reach 10 billion U.S. dollars in 2022.
Xiaomi used to have no real store or offline sales staff. Now, Xiaomi hopes to establish its own channels and increase brand awareness. However, Xiaomi is currently experiencing China’s skyrocketing rental and labor costs. Competitors Huawei, OPPO and Vivo have already reached cooperation with thousands of distributors and seized a lot of gold sites. Beside the Xiaomi Beijing flagship store, you will see the giant Huawei logo, and in the center of Wuhan, next to the Xiaomi line shop is Lenovo.
A research manager at IDC China believes that the reason that Chinese brands are building these offline experience stores is that they urgently need to upgrade their brands and attract high-end buyers. This is in line with Xiaomi’s long-term development strategy, but it seems that Xiaomi has only just begun.
Millet was founded seven years ago and has long been avoiding offline retail sales, but through online sales. In 2014, its online sales model and its ability to use social media marketing made Xiaomi the fastest in the Chinese market. And the valuation of more than 45 billion US dollars, second only to Uber in the world, and even some industry observers compared Lei Jun with Steve Jobs, the visionary Apple has died, and praised all the time.
However, with the maturity of the market, Xiaomi’s equipment evaluation is getting worse because they are constantly collecting feedback from users, constantly launching updates, and constantly launching new products to meet different levels of consumers. At this time, OPPO and Vivo use another way, that is, the rise of offline retail. In 2011, the first Mijia store was not even a store. It was just a service center. People needed to take internet orders to pick up goods or repair mobile phones.
And Apple showed another unique business model, which is its Apple Store, this carefully designed store in physical form exists to enhance the brand's interaction with fans, which is crucial. Xiaomi also began to learn this model, which will promote Xiaomi's service in games to movies, and can sell ecological chain products made by many of its startup companies, such as rice cookers, weight scales, and robot vacuum cleaners.
At present, Xiaomi’s sales focus is on coastal cities with vitality. Although it does not have a large population base like Beijing or Shanghai, China’s second-tier and third-tier cities often have a million-level population. As China’s urbanization process accelerates, This number is still growing. More rural people will become urban residents. Xiaomi must firmly seize this opportunity. Millet has even set its sights on foreign markets. In India and Russia, Xiaomi has become the biggest player after Samsung.
In a Xiaomi flagship store in Beijing, a sophomore college student commented that Xiaomi’s offline store looks very much like Apple’s store. Whether it is decoration or table decoration, this is an electronic product store. Look like.
So far, Xiaomi has opened about 100 offline stores. Not long ago, Xiaomi's second millet shop, Xiaomi Causeway Bay, opened in Hong Kong on July 1st. Hong Kong’s millet house, Causeway Bay, is located at Hang Lung, 2-20 Paterson Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Center 8th floor. The first millet house opened by Xiaomi in Hong Kong was located at the Plaza Plaza Hollywood in Mong Kok, Hong Kong. However, the location of this store is a bit embarrassing, next to a travel agency, and the location of the eighth floor is not good, and this building is a bit freaky, and not far away, Apple's stores occupy an integrated building, including high-end shopping center The street front.
At the opening ceremony, Xiaomi’s leadership stated that in order to become a globally influential Internet and smart phone company, Xiaomi must adhere to the combination of online and offline. This will better allow consumers to try out Xiaomi's products and get better feedback from consumers.
However, in China, real estate rents are very expensive. According to a senior personage from Jinan’s real estate industry, in a large business center in China, the rent for one square meter is about 600 yuan, and the rental price of Xiaomi’s business center in Jinan is 1 square meter for 450 yuan, while in some areas, shopping malls Not only does it have to collect rent, but it also requires a split, which is very demanding. In some downtown areas, the profits of some locations can reach 15% or more. And in China's second and third-tier cities, the rental prices of commercial centers are not low.
According to media reports, Xiaomi's current offline store is doing very well. According to Lin Bin, in April, Xiaomi’s turnover in a 260-square-meter branch in northern Beijing exceeded 10 million yuan, and its revenue target was an average of 70 million yuan per year per 1,000 stores.
This is a war that Xiaomi must win. According to IDC statistics, Xiaomi shipped less than half of its leading competitors such as Huawei in the first quarter of this year, ranking fifth in the Chinese market. However, Xiaomi is narrowing the gap with its competitors globally. This has prompted Xiaomi to lay out its domestic market.
However, an offline salesperson stated that his current sales of OPPO and Vivo's products are very good, and he does not want to sell millet now. Xiaomi is not a good thing to come under the line. He doesn’t want to sell Xiaomi this year, maybe wait and see. Time to see how it will be next year.
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