Chinese mobile phone makers, Xiaomi has surprisingly discarded its "flash sale" marketing strategy by selling its latest products - Xiaomi Mi 4 and Redmi Note 4G – in stores instead of selling them exclusively on Indian online retailing store, Flipkart.
Xiaomi has entered a partnership with The Mobile Stores to sell its devices - Xiaomi Mi 4 and Redmi Note 4G. The devices will be made available in 300 of the 800 of The Mobile Stores outlets across the country.
"Mi Phones now available at @themobilestores in Delhi. Rush to ur nearest store :) #RedmiNote4G #Mi4," Manu Kumar Jain, Head for India region, Xiaomi, tweeted on Saturday.
Interestingly, Xiaomi introduced flash sale in India last year, selling its devices like Redmi 1s and Redmi Note exclusively on Flipkart. This marketing strategy seemed to have worked out extremely well initially but could have dried out after a few stints. The company resorted to open sale of the Redmi 1s after a few months, and Redmi Note followed.
It may be mentioned that flash sale marketing strategy has invited criticism from several quarters with many alleging that companies are trying to sell more products by creating artificial scarcity. Today, many companies like Micromax and Lenovo too have resorted to flash sale but it is to be seen how long they will stick to it.
Xiaomi is now discarding flash sales. But why is the company abandoning the marketing strategy it benefited from?
Well, Xiaomi's decision to openly sell its products could be seen as a move to boost its revenue by selling more products. It may be mentioned that the company has recently announced that it is targeting to sell 100 million smartphones this year.
Meanwhile, one can't rule out the possibility of a farce sells report by companies that resort to flash sale. Mobile phone makers claimed that thousands of units were sold out in few seconds. It was literally tough to buy Xiaomi Redmi 1s when it was first put up for sale on Flipkart last year, as it run out of stock in a few seconds. However, public demand could drop drastically after the craze in the initial stage, and it can be seen as a reason for opting open sale.
