Xiaomi taps into Shopee’s 11-million online users in the Philippines

Beijing-based phone maker Xiaomi Inc. is tapping around 11 million users of e-commerce platform Shopee Philippines to buy its smartphones.

Xiaomi and Shopee signed a partnership agreement in Makati City on Friday, launching an official store on the online shopping platform.

“The Philippines’ e-commerce market is expected to see high growth this year, and we are confident that with the strategic partnership with Shopee it will extend our reach and highlight our commitment to continue to bring more innovative products into the market and provide more Filipinos greater access to technology,” said Xiaomi Southeast Asia regional director John Cheng.

Around 11 million Shopee users in the Philippines will be able to access a variety of Xiaomi products, said Cheng.

On March 13, Xiaomi marked its official return to the Philippines with two brick-and-mortar stores. Three  more are in the works for the rest of the year.

Xiaomi left the Philippine market in 2015, given the limited resources of the company which then chose to focus on the Indian market.

For the Philippine market, the company plans to tap the middle-income segment with affordable smartphones.

The company is now selling its Redmi 5A smartphone at P4,590 per unit, while its Redmi 5 Plus is available at P9,990 per unit.

Shopee head of business development Jane Lim said the phone maker intends to sell its 16 gigabit Redmi 5 exclusively on the e-commerce platform at a special offer price of P5,990 with a 10-percent cashback during a flash sale on April 4. —VDS, GMA News