Xiaomi, the giant that holds the third place in China’s ecommerce, surpassed only by Alibaba and JD.com, begins its online journey in the Americas. It was only three months ago that Xiaomi, along with Tekmovil, decided that it was time to launch their first ecommerce in Mexico. To accomplish this, Cristiano Serrano, Ecommerce for America General Manager, had to create all that was necessary, starting with a dedicated team within Tekmovil to the launch of the ecommerce itself. April 1st caught him racing against the clock as he only had 36 days until the Go-Live.
The perfect selection
Even though the task seemed difficult, it was not impossible. Priority had to be given to the three main ingredients: platform, implementation agency and digital talent.
“For me, it was very clear that there had to be a cloud-based, scalable and fast implementation platform. I already knew VTEX and the scalability and speed they offered. Also, it met all technical requirements such as hosting, servers and bandwidth, among others. We were also looking for an implementation partner, which is Vinneren, to take over the development. Having all these matters hatched out, it allowed me to focus on performance on the commercial strategy, in addition to selecting a team; and thus fulfill the objective of getting a MVP (Minimum Viable Product).”
Cristiano Serrano, Ecommerce for America General Manager
This “perfect selection” was composed of Tekmovil, VTEX and Vinneren, which began their work on http://www.xiaomishop.mx, the first ecommerce developed on VTEX IO in Mexico. This enabled the ecommerce site to already have a unique microservices architecture that allowed it to create high-quality, low-cost web software, as well as faster and more efficient applications and integrations for ecommerce or omnichannel business.
“With VTEX IO, we have what we need for Xiaomi’s future regarding its expansion to the Americas as it allows us to develop whatever we want for our ecommerce. On a code level, the site is lighter, which results in better user experience. It simplifies the pixel integration since pixels are native, which is fundamental to us because we can evaluate the actual user activities. The most important aspect is that marketing turns out to be quicker and simpler. If we take into account that we launched Mexico within the span of five weeks, we can spend less time when launching into another country by using the same code and adapt it where needed.”
Cristiano Serrano, Ecommerce for America General Manager
Challenges and opportunities
As with everything else, there are challenges, and the ones ecommerce faces at this stage are: supply chain, logistics, operations and the famous last mile, which aims to deliver orders as efficiently and fast as possible.
“We recognize an industry sector where the last mile collapsed, today there are more purchases and orders than suppliers; that is the challenge, to be more agile so we can process much quicker. Another point is that our consumers are becoming more professional and experienced buyers. It makes us better and forces us to live up to the demands.”
Cristiano Serrano, Ecommerce for America General Manager
Nielsen’s figures indicate that digital channels are growing and according to this data: there are 63% new users and the purchase per user is 37% higher. CIU, an analysis company, estimates that Mexico will have about 63.1 million ecommerce users in the next four months. In 2019, the number of users stood at 61.9 million.
There are more and more users, potential buyers, who spend part of their day analyzing what and where to buy. Xiaomi is aware of this, which is why it adheres to its philosophy regarding quality and affordable prices. Know your clients. Those who are most interested in products that help them have a “smart home” or interconnect their gadgets with their phone. It is not for nothing that it has earned an important place in the world of technology and has been a phenomenon. It is precisely this ambition that will now lead Xiaomi and Tekmovil, together with their tech partners, such as VTEX, to continue crossing borders, just as it entered Mexico and opened its ecommerce in 36 days, with plans to extend in the coming months to the United States, Canada, Peru, Colombia, Chile; until it dominates the Americas.
