Cosmetic, electronic retailers suffer most as shoppers go online
Updated: Oct 11, 2014 01:22:56pm
New Delhi, Oct 11 (KNN) The recent trend of heavy discount sales offered for the festive season by e-tailers had impacted hard the brick and mortar businesses due to predator-pricing online. A survey conducted by KNN showed that offline vendors for items like cosmetic, electronic and optical goods have suffered the most.
“Customers seldom visit my shop this festive season. They want to buy products with heavy discounts which I cannot afford,” said electronics and gadget vendor Bachan Singh.
Pointing to online retailers, “They purchase the goods in bulk and sell them after slicing prices. That is why they make profit easily,” said cosmetic shop owner Priyaraj Mirza.
Both the shop keepers claim that they paid taxes for goods in their store. That is the advantage online retailers have as they capitalise on not having to pay taxes with predatory-pricing which has greatly hindering the offline businesses.
Also commenting on his sales this season, optical goods seller Shiv Balan said, “Shoppers seemed to have checked the prices before visiting my shop. When I disclosed to them the slight higher price of the items available in my store, they turned down my offer and failed to return.”
Asked what should be done to resolve the issue, the shopkeepers opined that trade regulators have to put in place some measures to curb such problems.
“Products available in offline stores should not be sold online and vice versa,” said mobile phone shop owner, Naveen.
Meanwhile, pharma products and cosmetics seller Abhay Pandey is totally vexed with the situation. “It is hard to convince the customers about the retail tax… online shops should be banned immediately,” he said.
Nevertheless, all is not lost. Offline businesses that sell items such as apparel, footwear, utensils and artificial jewellery are not affected much by the recent online shopping trend.
“So far I have enjoyed good business this season. Shoppers visit my store as usual,” said apparel shop owner Pavneev.
Footwear shop owner, Mohit expressed similar sentiments. “The number of customers visiting my store has not decreased by the recent big sales online,” he said.
Clearly, with the large population in India, the online shopping trend though catching up fast will not completely wipe out brick and motor businesses. (KNN/ST)
“Customers seldom visit my shop this festive season. They want to buy products with heavy discounts which I cannot afford,” said electronics and gadget vendor Bachan Singh.
Pointing to online retailers, “They purchase the goods in bulk and sell them after slicing prices. That is why they make profit easily,” said cosmetic shop owner Priyaraj Mirza.
Both the shop keepers claim that they paid taxes for goods in their store. That is the advantage online retailers have as they capitalise on not having to pay taxes with predatory-pricing which has greatly hindering the offline businesses.
Also commenting on his sales this season, optical goods seller Shiv Balan said, “Shoppers seemed to have checked the prices before visiting my shop. When I disclosed to them the slight higher price of the items available in my store, they turned down my offer and failed to return.”
Asked what should be done to resolve the issue, the shopkeepers opined that trade regulators have to put in place some measures to curb such problems.
“Products available in offline stores should not be sold online and vice versa,” said mobile phone shop owner, Naveen.
Meanwhile, pharma products and cosmetics seller Abhay Pandey is totally vexed with the situation. “It is hard to convince the customers about the retail tax… online shops should be banned immediately,” he said.
Nevertheless, all is not lost. Offline businesses that sell items such as apparel, footwear, utensils and artificial jewellery are not affected much by the recent online shopping trend.
“So far I have enjoyed good business this season. Shoppers visit my store as usual,” said apparel shop owner Pavneev.
Footwear shop owner, Mohit expressed similar sentiments. “The number of customers visiting my store has not decreased by the recent big sales online,” he said.
Clearly, with the large population in India, the online shopping trend though catching up fast will not completely wipe out brick and motor businesses. (KNN/ST)
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