FIVE MINUTES WITH ...
DAVID MONTANYA
After a breakthrough year in Europe and beyond , Chinese electronics manufacturer Xiaomi continues to outperform expectations . We caught up with David Montanya , Senior Product Marketing Manager at Xiaomi to reflect on 2020 and 2021 , as well as look ahead to the decade to come .
Q . What are the factors that have allowed Xiaomi to have such a successful year , capturing large portions of overseas markets like Central and Eastern Europe ?
» This past year we ’ ve seen enormous growth for Xiaomi across Europe and , although I think there are many reasons for it , I ’ d like to highlight three in particular .
Firstly - the accessibility of our products , or as we like to say “ honest pricing ”. We keep a minimised profitmargin on our devices to deliver the highest price-to-performance ratio .
Lei Jun , Xiaomi ’ s Chairman and founder famously set the cap on product net profit margin to a maximum of 5 %, this includes smartphones and IoT products . This means that Xiaomi has been proven to be competitive from the very entry-level tailored products to super flagship phones .
Another key factor to Xiaomi ’ s smartphone success is the huge focus on R & D and innovation ; they are constantly challenging what ’ s possible in what I call the ‘ ABCDs ’. ‘ ABCD ’ refers to Audio , Battery , Camera and Display - arguably the cornerstones to a great smartphone .
Xiaomi has a two-pronged product strategy ; Smartphones + AIoT products . Xiaomi has a wide ecosystem of smart products ranging from smart bands , personal scales , to eScooters , earphones , smart lighting , smart Air Fryers and even security cameras . The ecosystem has opened up the doors for greater awareness of the Xiaomi brand as a whole . Xiaomi currently has more than 375 million
20 January 2022