Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi just opened a physical store in Paris, part of its ambitious European expansion plan. The brand is also dreaming of an American launch.
Stores in Spain and Italy as well
The smartphone brand’s newest European store, near the Les Halles shopping center in Paris, attracted a lot of attention. The clearly-lit store centers on the smartphone, but also has accessories (headsets, speakers, a wireless charger, …). A showroom on the ground floor will also display several products that are not available yet, like television sets, an electric toothbrush and an electric step.
Xiaomi already had an online presence on the continent and had opened stores in Madrid and Barcelona. These store openings were Xiaomi’s trial to see saturated markets’ potential. “I went around stores in Europe and saw phones offered at high prices for medium specifications”, Senior Vice President Wang Xiang said. His ultimate dream is to conquer the American market: “ Every morning I think about the U.S. market and when we’ll launch there, but 2018 is the year of Europe.” Its American ambitions could be thwarted by president Trump’s hostility towards Chinese tech companies.
Xiaomi is the world’s fourth largest smartphone manufacturer and is sometimes called the Chinese Apple, even though its products are a lot cheaper. The company is currently preparing an IPO.
