Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun wants the company’s 2017 to reach CNY 100 billion (USD 14.5 billion), Bloomberg reported, citing a memo posted on Xiaomi’s WeChat. The company will also seek to quadruple its store network to 200 outlets, continue its global expansion and deepen its research into artificial intelligence and online finance, all with a special eye on India. At the same time, the CEO admitted the company tried to grow too rapidly in the last few years and said it now needs to slow its pace of business expansion and overhaul its online-focused retail strategy.
Xiaomi was last valued at USD 45 billion in 2014 but it missed its 2015 shipments target and fell behind competitors such as Oppo and Huawei. Lei set a target of CNY 100 billion in sales in 2015 but the company has not given any revenue figures since. Foremost, Lei wants to rethink its online-only sales model and build on its network of about 54 outlets around the country. “The e-commerce only strategy has become insufficient because online sales only takes up 10 percent of total retail sales, after all,” Lei said in the memo.
“While creating a growth miracle in the modern history of business, we missed out on potential growth areas as well. That’s why we must slow our pace, and seriously learn from our mistakes,” Lei said, without specifying what operations will be slowed down.
Xiaomi secured USD 1.1 billion in 2014 from investors including GIC, All-Stars Investment and DST. The company is now counting on India to provide the next leg of growth: sales there passed USD 1 billion in 2016.
Apart from phones, the company also sells other types of electronic gadgets and appliances, from air purifiers to robot vacuums, made by its ecosystem-partners. Sales through such manufacturing and branding partners went over CNY 15 billion in 2016, Lei said.
