Creating Biggest Exclusive Brand Retail Network of India - Mi Store Journey - 1st Mi Store to 2500th Mi Store

Journey from 1st Mi Store launch and creating Guinness Book of World Record to launching 2500th Mi Store and thereby making Xiaomi as Single Largest Retail Network of India in just less than 1 year.

GUINNESS BOOK WORLD RECORD

This whole thing started last year when were told to start a new Project for rural market called Mi Stores. I have always believed in one philosophy and i.e. to Think Big. So, we came up with the idea of opening 500+ Mi Stores simultaneously on 12th noon 29th Oct'18 thereby creating Guinness Book of World Record.

Being a Project Manager, it was the most difficult task of my life. The biggest challenge was to coordinate all the activities so that all stores are launched between 12:00 to 12:01pm. So, it was not only important to open stores on a single day but they had to be launched in just 1 minute. We created history by breaking Guinness Record of opening 505 Mi Stores simultaneously.

National Program Manager - National Lead for Mi Stores

After the success of Guinness World Record, I was elevated from a Project Manager to National Program Manager. I was given an arduous task to scale this network pan India.

As a National Program Manager, I brought in fresh blood of State Program Managers who played a significant role in scaling up the project. I always believe that intent is more important than experience. 'Passion' and 'Hunger two succeed' were the two most essential criteria i looked when i was forming my team of State Program Managers.

Changes in Existing Set-Up

As a leader, it is very important to understand the issues, learn, adapt and make changes in the strategy to take the project to next level.

1. Cost Reduction: Store Fixture Cost Reduction: Since it was a rural project, even a small saving can have a huge impact on then ROI of the store. After thorough discussion with the Projects Team and vendors we reduced the cost of fixture by less than 35%. This led to better ROI and more franchise partners approaching us to open Mi Stores with us. Overall fixture cost of the Mi Store was less than 1L.
2. Innovation: Do-It-Yourself - Another issue we were facing in scaling up the project was TAT of existing stores. From approving a Franchise to final launch of the store, it was taking us close to 40 days. Civil Work and Fixture Set-Up were the two major bottlenecks. All the fixture was made so that set-up can be done by the franchise partners itself without the intervention of fixture vendors. As a result of which, our TAT (Turn Around Time) decreased by about 50%. The stores that we were making in 40 days, was now being made in less than 20 days.
3. Reduction in Delivery TAT - We opened fixture fulfillment centers in state capitals and tied up with local vendors for civil related work. As a result of which we were able to cut cost by around 30% and save time by around 40%.

With so many changes after I took over as National Program Manager, the next big task was to do something big again. Hence came the thought of 1000 Stores in 100 days.

1000th Mi Store Launch

1000th Mi Store was launched in Rewari, Haryana by MD of Xiaomi i.e. Manu Kumar Jain and one of the most famous female wrestler of Haryana Babita Phogat. 

Journey from 1000 Mi Stores to 2000 Mi Stores

1000 Stores in 100 Days

With new changes in the existing set-up we made close to 1000 stores in just a span of 100 days which is a record in itself.

Please find below the video showcasing 1000th Mi Store achievement and our MD Manu Kumar Jain, Retail Head - Arvind Yadav and myself.

2000th Mi Store

2000th Mi Store was launched by Xiaomi COO Mr Murali Krishnan and Head Retail Mr Arvind Yadav in Tumkur District of Karnataka.

Creating Biggest Brand Exclusive Brand Retail Chain

After crossing 2000th Mi Store, we wanted to make Xiaomi as Biggest Brand Exclusive Retail Network of India. Hence, team decided to work in that direction.

2500th Mi Store Launch

We launched our 2500th Mi Store in up-country market of Xiaomi with our MD Mr Manu Kumar Jain.

Xiaomi became the Biggest Exclusive Retail Chain of India

We conducted a study to understand where we stand as compared to Retail Industry of India. We decided to conduct a study with Channel Play which is a well renowned player in Offline market. As per the retail research agency Channelplay, this is the largest single brand retail network in India (across all categories), followed by Samsung India, Cafe Coffee Day(CCD), Dominos India, and Bata India.

Xiaomi is

?? 44% bigger than Samsung India

?? 48% bigger than Cafe Coffee Day (CCD)

?? 108% bigger than Dominos India and

?? 117%+ bigger than Bata India!

To be very honest, the journey of achieving Guinness World Record and now the Biggest Single Brand Retail Chain of India has been tumultuous, full of struggles, but, I have always embraced the hardship, knowing it won’t last forever, and let it make me stronger. In this frenzied voyage, I have never let my eye off the process of learning which is very important for your career. In my current organization, the challenges that were thrown at me were unimaginable but I have always delivered projects one after another because I have never let go of the learning process which shapes me up for the challenges ahead. One to the next challenge now.

News coverage of 'Xiaomi as Largest Exclusive Brand Retail Network of India'

The Times of India

Economic Times

ET Telecom

Hindustan Times 

Business Standard 

Fonearena

Business Support 

Outlook