INTERVIEW: Xiaomi may expand production facilities in Russia

MOSCOW, Nov 25 (PRIME) -- Chinese company Xiaomi does not rule out expansion of Russian production of its devices, Yu Man, head of Xiaomi in Russia and the CIS, told PRIME on Wednesday in an interview.

“At present, our TV sets Mi TV are assembled on the Russian facilities. There are no plans to produce other devices in Russia so far, but we do not exclude it,” Yu said.

The coronavirus pandemic has undermined the purchasing power of Russians. “However, thanks to our strong e-commerce component, we have weathered this time and managed not only to survive, but also improve our footing,” the executive said.

“Today, our share on the Russian smartphone market stands at 24%, and, in view of the current trends, we expect it to continue growing in the fourth quarter. As to our plans for the next year, we do not set ourselves the goal of making it to the top position in the rating of sales or get a bigger market share.”

In 2021, Xiaomi will enlarge the assortment of its ecosystem. “Of course, it is not good for us to put our cards on the table, but I can say that – we’ll certainly widen our assortment of the ecosystem devices. So, if you start building a Xiaomi smart home, I promise, it will have much more useful gadgets next year,” Yu said.

The executive also said that Xiaomi will be very successful in Russia, where it is among the leaders on the smartphone market and has become part of the mass culture.

Xiaomi will raise the number of its outlets Mi Store in the country by 100 until the end of 2020. “Certainly, next year we’ll continue to widen our retail presence offline as we understand how important it is for our customers to get familiarized with our products in person,” he said.

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