Mobile in Africa is planning to open Xiaomi’s flagship retail store in South Africa according to Mybroadband. For those who don’t know, Mobile in Africa are the official distributors of Xiaomi devices in Africa and they have already launched these devices in key markets including Kenya.
When launching Xiaomi devices in Africa, Mobile in Africa planned to partner with offline stores to reach as many customers as possible. This is different from the online-first strategy that we have seen Xiaomi employ is most of the markets it has been operating in.
Given that its main channel of distribution is offline, it only makes sense for Mobile in Africa to open the Xiaomi retail store in the continent. Mobile in Africa has confirmed this to Mybroadband but has not said if the company has any plans to open other stores in other countries (including Kenya) where it is operating in. Mobile in Africa ( MIA) has not been aggressively marketing Xiaomi devices in Kenya and I doubt that it has any plans to open such a store in the country, at least not in the near future.
Still on the store in South Africa, the company said that the project is in the planning stages and that it cannot reveal when and where the first store will be. If I were to guess, I will say that we might be seeing the store in early 2017.
The Xiaomi store will stock the devices that have been released internationally including its accessories. The devices that are launched exclusively for the Chinese market will not make their way to the store.
I will be keen to see how this store helps Mobile in Africa and Xiaomi. Right now I don’t see anything significant the company has done in Africa, the brand is well known but I just don’t see people with their phones. The company ought to be aggressive and try as much as possible to bring some of its latest devices over here. The last time I spoke with representatives from Mobile in Africa, they told me that the recent flagship, the Mi5 was still with the Communication Authority awaiting approval, that was over 4 months ago, the phone has not been officially launched in the country and isn’t listed on MIA’s portal. People who wanted this device had to use other means to get the phone over here. This is the mistake Mobile in Africa should avoid if it is to be successful in Africa and Kenya specifically.
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