Xiaomi, the China made smartphone which has been actively expanding in Southeast Asia, has announced yesterday that its main product the Mi3 smartphone will hit the shores of the Philippines in the coming weeks.
According to a report on Tech in Asia, the 16GB version of Mi3 will be sold in the Philippines not via their website, but through e-commerce site Lazada. The launch is an unconventional one, as Xiaomi usually debut its product via their website, and usually through a flash sales to hype up for publicity.
Xiaomi VP Hugo Barra told Tech in Asia that selling on Lazada in the Philippines “makes perfect sense for the company as the ecommerce site offers cash on delivery payment”, which most Filipinos are familiar with. The Mi3 will be available to Philippines customer via the Xiaomi Philippines site at a later date.
There are no announcement on when the Mi3 will be available via Lazada Philippines. Lazada claims to be one of the highest trafficked online shopping site in the markets it is currently available. It has accumulated 79 million page visits in the first quarter of 2014 alone. It recently launched its e commerce site in Singapore.
Xiaomi (or as some people call it, the “Chinese Apple”) is on the talk everywhere right now. After their victory over Apple in terms of sales in China and signing Hugo Barra, Xiaomi’s global vice president, to the team, now Xiaomi is no longer a local brand. Established in 2010 by eight men, mostly engineers, Xiaomi is now the third smartphone manufacturer in China, behind Samsung and Lenovo. In less than four years, it has already overtaken Apple. It sold 18.7 million handsets in 2013, up 160 percent from 2012.
And its popularity is undeniable, Xiaomi’s Redmi sold out within 8 minutes in Singapore, the Mi3 sold out within 3 minutes in Taiwan, and more recently, sold out in 17 minutes in Malaysia. It seems like everyone wants to get a hold of a Xiaomi smartphone. In fact, Xiaomi’sMi3 and Hongmi made it into the February 2014 list of the world’s ten best-selling smartphones, which gives them something to shout about.
For its upcoming launch in the Philippines, Xiaomi has already set up a Xiaomi’s Philippine website, a dedicated Facebook page, as well as a MIUI Philippine forum where Xiaomi users can leave feedbacks and product improvement suggestions. The Philippines is chosen as Xiaomi’s third global market after Singapore and Malaysia, because Xiaomi is “looking at large markets, where we think our products will do well because they’re high-specification devices that are aggressively priced“, according to Yahoo Philippines.
“It is also easy to do business in the Philippines. It is easy to get certified and get partnerships, and logistics work really well,” said Hugo Barra.
