Mobile phone retailers have urged handset companies to allow them a level playing field by offering the same deal which ecommerce majors like Amazon and Flipkart get during the coming festive season, an official said on Wednesday.
Asserting that online sellers get a much better deal compared to brick and mortar shops during the festive time, the All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA) said that around 1.5 lakh small businesses would find it difficult to sustain if this practice continues even in this pandemic time.
"Deep discounts and predatory prices offered in Flipkart Big Billion Day and Amazon Great Indian Festival kill mainline business with the support of mobile companies.
Retailers do not get such deals. This discriminatory approach ruins the Diwali of retailers," AIMRA president Arvinder Khurana told PTI.
He said that the Association has written to mobile makers in this regard and, if its prayer is not heard, retailers would be forced to sell models at prices offered by ecommerce platforms to retain business and debit the difference in prices from distributors.
"This year bearing in mind the suffering of retailers due to COVID and economic crisis, we request you to be a little sympathetic and refrain from giving such deals which ravage our business and disturb market sentiments," AIMRA said in letters to mobile phone companies.
The trade body that represents 1.5 lakh mobile retailers also alleged that several companies do not offer their latest models to offline retailers.
This also comes soon after the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) wrote to Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal urging the government to constitute a 'monitoring committee' to regulate and check the festival sales held by e-commerce companies and also issue mandatory guidelines for them to hold festive season sales.
CAIT alleged that these festival sales held by e-commerce companies over the past few years have offered predatory pricing and deep discounting via exclusive agreements that they had entered with some brands in which they held equity. It also alleged that the preferential treatment to some brands is against the provisions of the FDI policy.
With PTI inputs