Redmi is one of the biggest names in the Indian smartphone industry today. Let us take a look at how the company got here. Xiaomi has been one of the leading smartphone manufacturing companies in India for close to half a decade now. In 2020, the company garnered the most festive sales, overtaking giants like Samsung, Vivo, and Oppo. So, how did Xiaomi, and its sub-brand Redmi become a giant with such a stronghold on the market? Let us find out.
Demand for affordable smartphones
In 2014 and 2015, the demand for smartphones in the Indian market was steadily increasing. But a big portion of the population was looking for smartphones that offered them hi-tech features but did not burn a hole in their wallets. This huge demand for high-quality yet cost-effective smartphones led to the entry of Chinese brands like Redmi, Vivo, and Oppo in India.
All of these companies, including Redmi, had the experience of providing quality smartphones at nominal rates outside of India. So with that experience, they started targeting the demographic that was looking for budget phones. Redmi brought out several smartphones that were under 20,000 INR or even under 10,000 INR. This instantly appealed to the population that was only exposed to high-end flagship models till then. And soon enough, Redmi became a known name in the world of smartphones.Efforts to maintain the affordability of the phones
Redmi made concerted efforts to make their phones extremely affordable. These efforts were unique and smartly strategized, which gave them the edge to price their phones at costs no other company could. To this day, the strategies remain the same and they have been working quite effectively.
To reduce the price of their smartphones, one of the biggest steps that Redmi took was to limit the sale of their phones to online modes only. What this achieved was that the company no longer had to pay any share of money to the retailers. Usually, when a retailer sells a smartphone, a percentage of the phone’s value goes to the retailer. It could range from 1,000 INR to 1,500 INR per phone. Once this cost was done with, Redmi could decrease the price of their models by a significant margin. Furthermore, Redmi could also decrease transportation costs by only selling online.
Even with online sales, Redmi only stuck to flash sales. This did have disadvantages because a lot of people would complain about phones being out of stock. But because of the flash sale model, Redmi phones would sell within a very short period of time. Therefore, Redmi did not have to invest in storehouses and warehouses that additionally cost them more money.
In terms of advertisements too, Redmi took a path not often chosen by brands. While most of its competitors were working with celebrities to endorse their brands, Redmi promoted only through collaborations with influencers. This also helped Redmi save crores worth of money.
Because of so many measures that were chalked out, Redmi could significantly decrease the price of its phones. For instance, for similar specs, a Redmi smartphone would always cost a couple of thousand rupees less than a smartphone from a contemporary brand. This gave Redmi an edge over other brands.
Quality and consistency
In spite of taking all the means to ensure cost-effectiveness, Redmi made sure to not compromise on the quality of their phones. They always produced phones that were backed by some of the best software and hardware in the market. Redmi had models like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro Max that had a Snapdragon 720G chipset, 6 GB RAM, and a 5020 mAh battery -- all under 15,000 INR.
By virtue of their inimitable quality, strategy, and consistency, it is not hard to understand why Redmi got to the place where it is today.
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