Preface
Xiaomi was the first company in India to sell online exclusive smartphones in the country. In the year 2014, it unveiled the MI 3 which was available for purchase only via Flash sales hosted on Flipkart.com. The company had a completely different approach towards marketing its products as the costs saved by eliminating the middlemen like distributors & sub-distributors were passed on to the consumers.
Therefore, Xiaomi was able to price its devices much more aggressively in comparison to its competitors. And it was only a matter of time until these competitors started following suit in order to stay relevant in the industry. As of today, about 40% of the smartphones sold in India are sold while online channels, out of which the most prominent ones are Amazon.in, Flipkart.com and every OEMs respective online stores.
Even though the number of devices sold online is still less than the number of devices sold offline, the gap is getting narrower with each passing day. Undoubtedly, the online sales model has contributed in making technology more affordable for the end-user, it has been a nightmare for small or medium scale business owners who have been establishing their business for years, if not decades.
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While associations of such business owners, in the past, have been protesting so that the online exclusivity of these devices is stopped, which would allow them to sustain their business, no concreate laws have been enforced until now. However, this might change early next year, as smartphone OEMs currently have an ongoing contract with these online retailers which will end on the 31st of December 2019.
According to Arvinder Khurana who is the president of All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA),
Realme has decided that there will be complete parity between online and offline retailers with no exclusive model, an exclusive period of launch, price or brand offers from January.
Even Oppo and Vivo have assured us that they would do something similar, though official communication is awaited,
Readers who are unaware, all three of these brands are owned by BBK electronics which is based out of China. According to Counterpoint research, these three brands make up 30% of collective sales in the India smartphone industry.
Arvinder Khurana even said that “Over 30,000 cellphone stores have shut in the past year and a few thousand jobs have been lost. We need brand support to revive offline business,”
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After AIMRA presidents made the statement ET India sent out mails to India’s five largest smartphone brands which include Xiaomi, Samsung, Vivo, Realme and Oppo.
Madhav Sheth, the CEO Realme India said the “company believes in fair trade practices, offering similar benefits to online and offline customers, with the same price for its products. Any offers available on platforms are run by respective retailers and not by the brand,”
An Oppo spokesperson made this statement “Having an aggressive omni-channel approach has helped us achieve healthy growth in the Indian smartphone market. Keeping in lieu of the same, we plan to continue launching our products across channels going forward,”.
While emails sent to Vivo, Xiaomi and Samsung have not been replied yet which would either accept or deny the previously mentioned statements.
We will have to wait until further developments are made to verify “whether the scheme of selling online exclusives martphones comes to an end in India or not”. we will keep you updated on the subject so stay tuned.
(via)
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