Smartphone-maker LeEco plans to expand offline retail presence

Despite being one of the hot selling items online, Chinese smartphone-maker LeEco on Thursday said it would expand its offline stores to other major cities and strengthen its retail outlets. The company has been selling offline only in Delhi since the past month.

Since its entry into India in January, the company has sold over seven lakh units (online and offline), a top company official told BusinessLine .

So far, the company was mainly selling via online channels such as Flipkart, and its own portal, LeMall. Friday onward, LeEco said it would start selling its products through 2,000 offline stores in New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai.

“We will sell through over 2,000 outlets across six cities and the plan is to expand to over 65 cities through 6,000-8,000 outlets by this year-end. Through our offline stores, we will be retailing our Le 1s and Le 1s Eco and will gradually also introduce our second generation Superphones, Le 2 and Le Max2,” Atul Jain, Chief Operating Officer, Smart Electronic Devices, LeEco India, said.

He said the company had sold around seven lakh smartphones till now, mostly online. But, after going in for retail stores, it expects around 25 per cent of its total sales from offline stores, he added.

“By next calendar year-end, we expect to sell 40-45 per cent of our sales from offline stores and, as we grow, we will expand to more tier-I, -II and -III cities and towns,” Jain said.

He said the company had tied up with top retail chains such as Sangeetha and Poorvika in the South, and Shivalik in the North to sell its products. Some other distributors are AppsYouNeed, Pearl Infotech and PCH across cities, Jain said, adding that LeEco had hired over 433 promoters for its offline business.

For servicing of its products, the company will set up more outlets in addition to the 555 outlets it has now, Jain said. The company also provides door-to-door pick and drop service for its high-end smartphone Le Max2.

It also has a complete ecosystem of entertainment with partnerships such as Eros Now, Hungama and YuppTV, in addition to 2,000 movie titles through Le Vidi, over 100 TV channels via Le Live, and 2.5 million music tracks under LeEco membership.

With the parent company acquiring US-based consumer electronics firm VIZIO for $2 billion, the synergy is likely to have a positive impact on the Indian market as well. Then company will be looking at using these synergies in the Indian market, said analysts.

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