Festive Season: Dispute between online and offline retailers back
consumer offers and stock supplies to help them compete with e-commerce platforms.
Industry groups representing these retailers have written letters in this regard to Samsung, Oppo, Vivo, Realme, Xiaomi and OnePlus. They said they are in the process of writing to other big firms such as LG, Bosch, Godrej, Whirlpool and Sony.
The retailers fear that the brands may offer deep discounts on their online-exclusive and end-of-life models whose supplies will be focused on e-commerce platforms, considering almost all the firms are saddled with excess unsold inventory which they want to clear in the upcoming festive sales.
These retailers together operate more than 1,55,000 outlets and have a collective turnover of more than Rs 42,000 crore.
The industry groups which have reached out to the brands include the All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA), which represents interests of about 1,50,000 neighbourhood stores; South Indian Organised Retailers Association (ORA), which has under its umbrella more than 20 retail chains such as Poorvika, Big C and Sangeetha; and the Association of Consumer Electronics and Home Appliances Traders (CEHAT), which represents 43 retail chains, including Viveks, Great Eastern Retail, Adishwar, Girias and Pai Electronics.
«We hope that the same prices, offers, and sufficient stock of all models in the mainline (or offline channel) will continue to be available across platforms,» said the AIMRA letter written by its chairman Kailash Lakhyani to Realme.
CEHAT president Raj Kumar Pai said the association will write a letter to electronics and home appliances firms next week since the industry desperately needs a level playing field for survival.
