Very few companies have seen growth like Xiaomi. The Chinese startups become the world’s third-largest smartphone maker within just three years of entering the market, and it even is thrown Samsung to become the top-selling smartphone brand in China, but why is Xiaomi so successful?
Its single product focus, coupled with its Apple-like style of presentation led many people to refer to Xiaomi as the Apple of China. Today, the company seems to be evolving from one that launched a single smartphone at a time to a clearinghouse for all kinds of products. So, how did this small shiny start have managed to blow up like this in just 12 years?
How Big is Xiaomi?
The year was 2010, eight partners came together to cope on a smartphone startup called Xiaomi with an initial investment of 2.5 billion dollars, the name Xiaomi means millet, little rice in Chinese, while Mi stands for mobile internet.
Xiaomi’s initial intention was not really about building smartphones, instead, it focused on making a custom ROM called Mi UI based on Android wear. In 2011, Xiaomi launched its first phone the Xiaomi Mi1, which become an instant hit to recall anyone was a top-spec phone with a cheap price tag that too without compromising on quality or performance. This has remained Xiaomi’s philosophy from day one.
In 2012, sales increased by a whopping 2400 percent with the launch of the Xiaomi Mi 2S. By the end of 2013, Xiaomi was valued at 10 billion dollars. In the same year, Xiaomi made a huge move and hired Hugo Barra, former vice president of product management at Google. They got him on board as their new vice president to expand the company outside of China. Xiaomi quickly expanded into new markets like Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, India, Indonesia and Brazil.
Why is Xiaomi So Successful?
Not only smartphones, Xiaomi’s product list actually includes a wide range of products. Along with the smartphones, in 2014, Xiaomi launched Mi Band, its first wearable fitness tracker priced aggressively at just $13. Xiaomi also made a move into the Internet of Things with the launch of the internet-connected Mi water purifier.
This list also includes Mi Wi-Fi routers, Mi TV, Mi setup box, Mi Cloud Meeting, Mi LED Light, and USB Fan. The list is still continuous today, especially in China, Xiaomi produces more products such as refrigerators and laptops. Xiaomi even produced their Drone.
Business Strategy
Xiaomi is successful thanks to its vision and business strategy. Imagine a manufacturer that takes several parts out of the above equation does not believe in traditional advertising and does not have any retail store, or device to sell all products online. Well, that is exactly what Xiaomi is doing at first. It is not continuing today but that is one of the reasons why Xiaomi is so successful today.
Xiaomi also does not employ traditional models of advertising and depends solely on social media marketing. Xiaomi uses Apple’s tactics with Amazon’s strategy. Like Apple, Xiaomi has bullets at a petition by launching one phone at a sign. Adding to that the striking similarity between Apple’s iOS, and Xiaomi’s MIUI has going to show us the name Apple of China. Xiaomi also has a lot of fans around the world, and the company is very active on social media. All of these combined with the low price with high-quality too.
Xiaomi’s Vision
The smartphone market is very competitive and you have to do a lot of exciting things every day. So, Xiaomi still holds that vision, and we are sure that we are going to see more from Xiaomi. Xiaomi has made significant strides into whichever market it has entered in a relatively short period of time and states a testament to a successful company. The company still surprises everyone with the launch of the 12 Series.
