Monday was the opportune day for Chandan Singh to unleash shopaholic in him and to be part of the mad rush for ‘The Big Billion Day sale’— online mega sale of e-retailer flipkart.
However, the magnitude of the online sale and e-retailers present a threat to brick and mortar businesses which fear annihilation due to flexible policies of their competitors and indifferent attitude of companies they represent. The much awaited sale made a large section of the net savvy people hook on to the website of the e-retailer and others that claimed to offer products at as low price as Rs 1 for computer accessories and tablets at a jaw dropping offer price of one-tenth of the maximum retail price. Sale like big billion for some retailers is harbinger of potential threat to their survival and is reason enough for companies to shift strategies and offer a buffer against giant e-retailers. To the chagrin of retailers, their request to companies has failed to bring any change in policies and strategies vis-à-vis a constantly evolving market of consumer products. Result, they have been left to fend for themselves and adjust in the market space.
“We simply cannot compete with any strategy from our end. They are too huge in terms of their reach to customer which offers them the luxury of flirting with prices. We have written to company representative’s umpteen numbers of times about the negative impact on sales figure, which is anywhere close to 50 per cent, of allowing their product to be sold through website but we stand disappointed,” said owner of two retail stores, Anand Dhanuka.
The physical market was abuzz with discounts on virtually every product available until it was stunned by Monday’s sale on virtual market. Nonetheless, retailers heave a sigh of relief that such sales are not usual phenomenon with downsides as experienced by many today while attempting to grab a deal that offer them the space to thrive. Interestingly, store owners count on the subtle difference between online and offline shopping—experience of buying—to withstand the cut-throat competition.
“Threat is imminent but it cannot wipe us out completely. We will exist as shopping at retail outlet offers an experience which is not offered by websites,” maintained owner of multi-brand retail outlet at Main Road.
While attempting to grab a deal Chandan saw orders dropped from cart, website becoming unresponsive occasionally besides deals going out of stock sooner than expected and reappearing out of nowhere to entice him to renew efforts to buy a product. “I logged into my flipkart account at 7.30 am and saw several products going out of stock until I managed to buy two sets of a mobile which although was not sold at discount came with lot of freebies. It was a kind of discount you can say,” Chandan mused.
Meanwhile, flipkart has been advertising ‘Big Billion Day’ sale from more than 10 days and claims it to be the biggest sale ever in India. The company’s co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal shoot off emails to customers informing and inviting them to make use of the opportunity on Monday whereas the customer care kept on reminding people to stay tuned to the website. Despite the hype and hoopla, the big billion was bullied by many on social networking sites for snags and murky terms and conditions.
Company representatives stationed in Jharkhand chose not to share their stand about threat to retailers and change in strategy for retailers to face completion from e-retailers.