Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is shifting away from its online-driven sales model and plans to double the number of handsets sold offline in China this year.

The company, which until recently was the most prominent rising star in the tough smartphone space, said it will expand sales via retailers and increase the number of Mi Home stores to 50 from the current 20, Reuters reported.

The move comes after the vendor reportedly missed its 2015 handset target, shipping 70 million devices last year. This compares with 61 million in 2014, indicating continued, but significantly slowed, growth.

While a figure of 100 million was mooted early last year, this was slimmed to 80 million as 2015 progressed – with Xiaomi still unable to reach the revised goal.

The five-year-old firm did manage to move to fourth from sixth in the global smartphone rankings last year and was the second largest maker in China, according to TrendForce.

With the majority of its sales made in its home market, it has been impacted by China’s economic slowdown and slowing smartphone growth.

A source said its website Mi.com will still be its core business, but it has set a target of selling 58 million smartphones in China through retailers, Reuters said.

Analysts estimated that last year 60 per cent of its smartphones were sold online.

Its online strategy was widely copied by a number of makers in both China and India over the past couple of years.