Will the real Xiaomi Philippines please stand up!

Last week, we saw two different local groups/entities claiming to be the official distributor of Xiaomi products in the Philippines. Each one has their own Facebook pages promoting the return of Xiaomi in the country. The other one is even claiming the other is a fake Xiaomi account.

In order for us to get to the truth, we sent out an email to our contacts in Xiaomi Global as we believe they’re the only one that can make the official announcement regarding the status of Xiaomi in the Philippines (thereby avoiding the politics of prematurely taking sides).

While waiting for the confirmation from Xiaomi Global, here are other ways to actually resolve this issue:

1) Certificate of Distributorship. Brands will normally issue a certificate of distributorship to a Philippine entity that will carry its products.

In lieu of the certificate, the two parties will also sign a Partnership Agreement that details the scope of the distributorship.

The distributorship can be exclusive or non-exclusive. If it is exclusive, there is a term that indicates how long the exclusivity will be and what is the minimum MOQ (minimum order quantity). If it is non-exclusive, there could be two or more official distributors in the Philippines (this is true with many other tech brands and normally happens if the volume is so big it needs to be split among competing parties).

2) Products have NTC Stickers. At least for those who require one (with WiFi or cellular modems), the devices they sell should have the NTC stickers required of them.

We encourage the two entities to use these two methods to prove their legitimacy as an official distributor or reseller of Xiaomi products in the Philippines. Only then their customers are confident that it’s the official product and they are dealing with a legit Xiaomi representative.