Chinese smart-phone company Xiaomi plans to expand its Indian store network as it attempts to grab the lead in a smartphone market which Korea’s Samsung has dominated for more than five years. A little over three years after Xiaomi entered India, its affordable, high-spec handsets have helped the start-up, which is now valued at close to $100 billion and plans to list this year, to pull neck-and-neck with Samsung in its biggest market behind China. Xiaomi opened its first Mi Home, an Apple store-style sales and experience centre, in May and already operates 17 such outlets in India. The company is ahead of schedule on its plans to open 100 Mi Home stores by mid-2019 in India and also plans to add more preferred partner stores – multi-brand outlets that stock largely Xiaomi products. This is indeed a breaking news for signage companies whose expertise lies in in-store branding, designs and graphics.
