Realme to expand offline sales to 150 cities through 20,000 Real partners in 2019

Oppo offshoot Realme on Monday announced that it will expand its offline presence to as many as 150 cities across India by the end of 2019. Realme will partner with as many as 20,000 offline sales partners, that it is calling Real partners, to make its devices available to a broader audience that still relies on physical retail stores to make their purchase.  

Realme will start with ten cities initially in January 2019 and proliferate into 50 new cities every quarter, it said. The 20,000 retail outlets that it is looking to partner with by the end of 2019 will have “all the models that the smartphone brand has launched,” in addition to giving “a value addition to customer experience.” Note that parent company Oppo has been relying heavily on offline sales in India for as long as one can remember and because many buyers here still prefer physical access to the look and feel of a device before making their purchase, Realme eyeing the segment isn’t surprising at all. 

“Realme as a young brand is committed to delivering the best consumer experience to our customers. Strengthening our commitment, we are expanding our footprints to meet the rapidly growing customer demands. With the new offline stores we are extending our sales channels reaching out to our offline customers in every region. This is the extension of our sales strategy and ultimate target of ‘Realme for Every Indian,” Madhav Sheth, chief executive officer, Realme India said. 

Realme eyeing the offline segment isn’t surprising from a pure competitive perspective as well. The brand has grown to become a viable alternative to Xiaomi in India, in a very short time. On the back of affordable phones that punch way above their weight. Similar to how Xiaomi likes to operate. And it is (now) eyeing offline as an important milestone, after having started as an online-only brand, much like Xiaomi. 

Xiaomi of course enjoys the early mover advantage in India. The company only recently made its foray into rural India (towns ranging from tier 3, 4, 5 and below across 14 states) through 500 plus offline Mi Stores. After having established a comprehensive network of Mi Stores and preferred partner stores in major towns and cities. Furthermore, Xiaomi has announced that it plans to open 5,000 plus Mi Stores by the end of 2019. Realme, on the contrary, has just begun its journey and it would be interesting to see how things pan out for it in the days to come.

Also Read: Realme Rumoured To Launch “A1” Budget Low-Cost Smartphones During Early 2019