As part of its annual festive campaign ‘Diwali with Mi’, smartphone and smart TV brand Xiaomi India advises its consumers, ‘Don’t buy tech yet’. The campaign is eye-catching because unlike the brand’s usual sentiments of making more profits and pulling out every penny, Xiaomi wants its consumers to wait a while to take advantage of the best deals and discounts.
Diwali and the festive season leads to increased consumer willingness to buy new products or upgrade existing ones. Anuj Sharma, CMO, Xiaomi India, says sales expectations start during this time. This is further compounded by the sales expectations set by online players.
According to Sharma, Xiaomi’s consumers are mostly young people. Many students, people who have just started working and newlyweds are part of the brand’s target audience.
What these user segments have in common is that they make individual decisions and control their own purchases. “But when they do, they can also be prone to making bad decisions.” Today’s consumers need to be absolutely sure of what they are buying, what is right for them,” says Sharma.
Most of a brand’s advertising throughout the year is based on its products – whether it’s launching a new product or showing off the features of its products. However, the brand’s celebratory campaign is different from these.
“This communication is product specific and not usually time-bound. The Diwali campaign is one of the bigger campaigns that the brand does. It is mostly time-bound and event-based,” mentions Sharma.
With overall consumer sentiment this festive season healthier and more positive than the previous two, Xiaomi is betting its hopes on newer technology.
“Smartphones continue to be one of the largest industries in the country. With networks like Jio, Vi and Airtel getting 5G networks, sales of 5G phones will be encouraging. Xiaomi has also recently launched an affordable 5G phone – ‘Redmi 11 Prime’ which is expected to grow,” adds Sharma.
The brand expects growth in its smart TV category. This is led by OTT-first content and movies that are recently released on various (OTT) platforms.
Not just toothbrushes, Xiaomi has also forayed into categories such as hair clippers, vacuum cleaners and shoes during the COVID-induced lockdowns. These categories cannot be associated with a brand like Xiaomi.
According to Sharma, with the trend of people buying new homes, products such as vacuum cleaners will also see growth during the festive season. It reveals that all these introductions are largely related to what Xiaomi users are asking for. “Some of these products are experimental and launched by the brand through crowdfunding, while others eventually grow beyond the size of the community and become a full-fledged category.”
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