By Mauro Libi
Crestani. Xiaomi is the Chinese word for "millet". In 2011, its CEO Lei Jun suggested
there are more meanings than just the "millet and rice." He linked the
"Xiao" part to the Buddhist concept that
"a single grain of rice of a Buddhist is as
great as a mountain," suggesting Xiaomi wants to work from the little
things, instead of starting by striving for perfection, while "mi"
is an acronym for Mobile Internet and also Mission Impossible, referring to the
obstacles encountered in starting the company.
Number one in
the smartphone market is a fight between Sony and Apple. Xiaomi started its
company in just 2010, so it is new to the market. At present it in the fourth
place for world sales and the amazing part is that it is only selling presently
in the Asian market.
This company
is a private company that started in China. Now starting a business in China is
not easy. People usually buy with a simple min-set. They buy what they know.
Xiaomi right from the start set several business initiatives that they wanted
to hold to.
One of their
initiatives was of ‘value’. In selling the Xiaomi smartphone, Xiaomi employs a
strategy that is very unlike other smartphone makers such as Samsung and Apple.
Lei Jun, Xiaomi CEO, said that the company prices the phone almost at
bill-of-material prices, without
compromising the component quality and performance compared to other premium
smartphones.
How can they use such quality and charge such a low
price, almost half of what they other companies charge for the same comparative
phone. This they accomplish by using an initiative of ‘good will’. Xiaomi does not own a single
physical store and instead sells exclusively from its own online store. It also
did away with traditional advertising and relies on social networking services
as well as its own customers to help advertise its products.Xiaomi reaches out to customers through parties and
social media. Xiaomi has
achieved this success partly by making its customers feel part of an exclusive
club, such as by throwing parties for them every few weeks across China. It has spun a
dream of social advancement for China’s vast numbers of young people, a dream
of luxuries from the developed world now within reach.
Another initiative is one of ‘customer satisfaction’. In terms of
building a strong and loyal consumer base, Xiaomi’s approach involves listening
closely to customer feedback, having them test out upcoming features
themselves, and building an extensive online community.
Xiaomi
now has a dream of going global and becoming the number one seller of
smartphones. They would like to keep their initiatives that have worked in
China and apply them in every country. Some say it is because the China economy
is not as strong as it was a few years ago and that they need to go global. For
whatever reason, it would be interesting to see if what works in China would
also work worldwide.
Mr. Lei,
the CEO and founder, has declared not only that he wants Xiaomi to be
world’s largest smartphone maker within a decade, but that he wants to bring
all the trappings of the good life to developing-world consumers for bargain
prices, from television sets to smart light bulbs. By Mauro Libi
Crestani.
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