With restrictions easing under lockdown 3.0 from May 4, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi on Monday launched an offline-to-online solution called "Mi Commerce" for its retail partners to help people discover products while staying at home and, yet, buy the products offline.
Xiaomi, which is India's largest smartphone seller, also said it has retained all its 50,000 employees and partners despite the challenges brought about by COVID-19, according to Manu Jain, Vice President, Xiaomi and Managing Director, Xiaomi India
"Mi Commerce is a product discovery platform. It is wrong to compare it with any other e-commerce platform," Muralikrishnan B, Chief Operating Officer, Xiaomi India , told reporters during a virtual press briefing.
"We have been planning an omnichannel solution for quite a while. You can consider Mi Commerce as the first step towards that," he added.
With this solution, the last mile "contactless" delivery will be done by retailers and Xiaomi recommends that people make the payment through a UPI-based solution. Jain said that the solution would help the company's 10,000 retail partners resume business quickly.
"Due to COVID-19 restrictions, smartphone sales in Q2 will take a hit. But the India smartphone market will bounce back by Q3 and Q4," he added.
"We may not have all the manpower right now. But we should be up and running 100 per cent by Q3," Jain added.
Xiaomi India MD also announced that the company would unveil its flagship 108MP camera phone Mi 10, on May 8.
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