Brick and mortar phone retailers protest as online sales hit record high
[ by Kavita Krishnan ]The Confederation of All-India Traders (CAIT), representing 70 million brick and mortar traders across the nation, has levelled serious allegations against e-commerce players like Flipkart, Amazon that they indulged in fraudulent business practices by manipulating inventory, bypassing the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy to offering predatory pricing. CAIT...
The Confederation of All-India Traders (CAIT), representing 70 million brick and mortar traders across the nation, has levelled serious allegations against e-commerce players like Flipkart, Amazon that they indulged in fraudulent business practices by manipulating inventory, bypassing the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy to offering predatory pricing. CAIT also launched a country-wide agitation that includes more than 40,000 trade associations, including the All-India Mobile Retailers’ Association.
CAIT has made several representations to the Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal against Flipkart in the past few months. Citing its balance sheet, the retailers alleged huge revenue losses to the exchequer caused by the online firms.
Despite country-wide agitations by the CAIT against the alleged unfair practices by e-commerce giants, online sales of smartphones are flourishing astonishingly.
Data from analyst firms like International Data Corporation (IDC) India and Counterpoint Research show that shipments through the online channel grew by a whopping 28.3 % year-on-year (YoY) in the quarter ended September. Global research firm IDC said that online platforms provide attractive cashback and buyback offers which help them take the sales to a record high of 45.4%.
Moreover, mega shopping events like Flipkart Big Billion Day sale and Amazon Prime Day that offer special discounts, cashback schemes and easier consumer finance options — remain unmatched by offline traders.
According to Navkendar Singh, Research Director - client devices, IDC India, said though the offline channel remains the largest channel for smartphones in India, “the unabated aggression of the online players will continue to be a challenge for the offline channel.”
Arvinder Khurana, National President of All India Mobile Retailers Asssociation (AIMRA), said that despite all regulations in place, online platforms sold smartphones at prices much lower than even the buying price for retailers the festive season. He further said that online-exclusive tie ups of smartphone makers with ecommerce marketplaces have hurt the offline industry badly.