Top consumer durable firms seem to have mended fences with online retailers over the contentious issues of heavy discounting and after sales support.
Companies such as Lenovo, Samsung, HTC, Dell, Lenovo and Panasonic have removed the likes of Flipkart and Snapdeal from the barred list and have placed them back on the authorised services provider list. This has been done following an assurance from the e-tailers that pricing parity would be maintained across the buying platforms. Battle lines were drawn last year when durable firms launched scathing attacks and tirades against online players for retailing products over the web.
Manish Gupta, Director, Consumer & Small Business, Dell India said, “The reality is that with connectivity becoming more and more pervasive, we cannot ignore the e-commerce phenomena. Consumers today have multiple options of buying products. It boils down to the accessibility that brands can provide to consumers, especially when people today are doing online research before making a purchase decision.”
The companies had alleged that online players were selling their products with heavy discounts, thereby impacting the business of offline retail channel partners. Ecommerce players have always maintained that online marketplaces are selling platforms who do not exercise control over prices.
"We have been regularly monitoring the developments in both the online and offline retail space. A key stakeholder in our growth strategy, the interest of our business partners is of prime importance to us. We have been able to successfully manage expectations across channel partners by ensuring that their interests are well taken care of and will continue with the same strategy in the future,” added Rajiv Mishra, Vice President (Media), Samsung India.
The growing popularity of e-commerce in India has propelled several consumer durable and electronics offline retailers such as Croma, The Mobile Store, Vijay Sales and Sangeetha Mobiles to join the online bandwagon.
In view of the recent “Big Billion Sale” fiasco by Flipkart, most of the brands have asked the online players to refrain from offering discounts of over 15 per cent during the festive season. Flipkart was accused by retailers of selling goods at rock-bottom prices during its Big Billion Day sale, which apparently backfired as the company’s servers failed leading to discontent among consumers.