[Update] Samsung opening ten exclusive retail stores in Bengaluru, India

Samsung has announced that it will be opening no less than ten retail stores in the city of Bengaluru, India, by December. The company says these stores will help it better serve consumers, and everything from Samsung’s smartphones to its QLED TVs will be made available in these stores. Samsung already has a vast offline retail presence in India, but unlike Apple, it doesn’t usually focus much on dedicated stores in the country, making this a notable move.

The decision to open exclusive stores might have something to do with Xiaomi catching up to the Korean giant in the Indian smartphone race; Xiaomi’s first offline retail store had also been opened in the same city earlier this year. Xiaomi doesn’t have the wide-ranging product portfolio (especially outside the budget phone segment) that Samsung does, however, so that’s where the latter should have a considerable lead. The Samsung stores will be set up in key locations in Bengaluru, including Whitefield, which is one of the city’s major IT hubs.

Rajeev Bhutani, Vice President of Samsung India’s Consumer Electronics Business, had this to say:

Samsung has always been at the forefront of driving innovation that aims at creating products catering to the evolving needs of consumers. The reception for Samsung products has been overwhelming and we have witnessed tremendous demand from Bengaluru which is one of the top markets for Samsung. The opening of 10 new brandshops will help us in reaching out to our customers at their convenience and also enable us to serve them better..

Update: Samsung’s official quote updated.