Xiaomi Goes Old School to Reclaim Smartphone Crown in China
- The former champion is counting on stores to make a comeback
- Well-crafted retail can build a premium brand for the company
A Xiaomi Corp. Mi 6 smartphone.
Photographer: Anthony Kwan/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Xiaomi Corp. pioneered an online flash-sales model that lifted it to dizzying heights and made it Asia’s most valuable startup, but it’s since fallen on hard times. Now it’s counting on old-fashioned retail to make a comeback, and that’s proving a much stiffer challenge.
The smartphone maker is going through a major transformation after missed targets prompted a bout of soul-searching by billionaire co-founder Lei Jun. From Harbin in the chilly northeast to glitzy eastern Shanghai, it aims to build 1,000 “Mi Homes” by 2019 -- about twice Apple Inc.’s global store count -- that will rake in an envisioned 70 billion yuan ($10 billion) in sales by 2021.