Discussion on brick and mortar stores

Those traders seem jealous. What they want by regulation. That the government controls the minimum price for products..? Such stupidity.

Jealous? It's not that. There needs to be policies. You as a customer sure see that you get discounted price for the stuff you buy but have you even thought of those traders/retailers/distributors families? How will they earn money for their bills they pay every month? Seeing something on the internet seems easy. I guess you'd understand if you were born in a family of such traders. Traders don't really enjoy giving you products with higher amount, It all depends on the company itself. Now if Sony is giving a purchasing price for a trader 20,000 and is giving 15,000 to e-tailer, that's totally not fair now is it?

If you think about broad scenario, let's say retailers get's huge loss by flipkart and then closes their stores and move to a a new business, and a business model very much similar to what your Dad or Mom is doing (no pun intended) , how would you react?

Sure, I enjoy hefty discounts and many times shop thru e-commerce sites. But that's one thing. Being Fair is another. It will probably come down to flipkart's ass or the OEM itself.
 
You as a customer sure see that you get discounted price for the stuff you buy but have you even thought of those traders/retailers/distributors families?
What about hundreds of families of Flipkart customer care employees?
 
What about hundreds of families of Flipkart customer care employees?

What about them? If flipkart prices even the same as retailers , you think they will not get customers at all?

Every company/firm has their area, if you know what I mean. Like an OEM gives a distributor an area where he and only he can only sell. Same goes with a distributor from the same city but a different area. See, these are the polices and that's how balanced OEM's distributing chains are.

Flipkart has their area aswell, the social network, blogs, forums, heck - the whole internet!
 
Opened fk in the bbd morning. Got frustrated and went to amazon and bought a uv filter for 99 , acer iconia tab for 3989 amd imported dates :D

Also got a 1100d from ebay for 17891 few days back.then today saw the sd prices for 1200d and also saw Amazon prices for 1200d with two lenses

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If you can't survive in a free market, your business provides no value and deserves to die. The same has happened the world over. Even in the US, there have been casualties of war thanks to e-commerce. It is nothing new!

Let's get something straight, India is NOT U.S. Also, no one deserves that their business dies, No one, and if you are saying otherwise, ***inappropriate content deleted***

Another thing, what's free market? care to explain?
 
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Let's get something straight, India is NOT U.S. Also, no one deserves that their business dies, No one, and if you are saying otherwise, ***inappropriate content deleted***.

Another thing, what's free market? care to explain?
Yes, they do. If they can't take care of their customers, someone else will. Countless businesses have died over the generations for umpteen number of reasons.

You don't know what's a free market ***inappropriate content deleted***? There's a word for such people, but you already know that.
 
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Jealous? It's not that. There needs to be policies. You as a customer sure see that you get discounted price for the stuff you buy but have you even thought of those traders/retailers/distributors families? How will they earn money for their bills they pay every month? Seeing something on the internet seems easy. I guess you'd understand if you were born in a family of such traders. Traders don't really enjoy giving you products with higher amount, It all depends on the company itself. Now if Sony is giving a purchasing price for a trader 20,000 and is giving 15,000 to e-tailer, that's totally not fair now is it?

If you think about broad scenario, let's say retailers get's huge loss by flipkart and then closes their stores and move to a a new business, and a business model very much similar to what your Dad or Mom is doing (no pun intended) , how would you react?

Sure, I enjoy hefty discounts and many times shop thru e-commerce sites. But that's one thing. Being Fair is another. It will probably come down to flipkart's ass or the OEM itself.

If it is not jealousy what is it then..?

Just cause they cannot retail out their products at such price-points whose fault is that..? What you are suggesting is regulation by a governing body for free trade and/or commerce. It makes no sense. And to be honest no one jumps on the competition band-wagon thinking about others. If they cannot survive the new game, then better to move out and play another game, rather then in a sneaky fashion bend the rules to their betterment. The B&M traders are being unfair to e-commerce by demanding that FK's practices be looked upon and inspected. They are free to sell at any rate they want. Your scenario will move the retail sector to the real state industry mode: where most of the sales are grey and immense speculation is used for pricing. IE: controlled by a select few of the chosen special. If my parents business model is blown into pieces by an entity which is greater and offering better scenarios to consumers, then whose fault is this..? The latter or the former. It is obvious. It is all ready obvious that this cannibalizing has started. Go into any Chroma and mention FK. They blatantly say (specially for phones) that FK is selling the mobiles illegally. Ask the personnel about a product they do not have (say a higher model of a food processor), they will b**** and rant about the model they do not have, to lure the customer away. This is malignant to the industry. End of the day: a sale is a sale. Be it B&M or FK. But our B&M retailers do not see this aspect, and have migrated to Dog Eat Dog. It is vile and cheap and filthy at the same time. It is what happened when SMS and tele - calling was tried to be banished from India. People said it is a million dollar industry employing 1000's, what will happen to them. Why the heck: was the non - benign practice set up. Or should we stop the advent of automated sanitation and robust sewer systems in India -what- will happen to the millions of workers who sweep and tow the garbage...!..? When ever novelization of an entity occurs their will be a loss and shutters will be shut down, permanently. HMT, Kodak, and Ambassador are some examples of this. This same BS was repeated in a high manner when FDI was being lured into India. These same traders went on record with their "we will die out" attitude. What do the want. We continue to live in Stonehenge (walking), operate at the level of The Dark Ages (opaque sales stream), and pretend we are in the Depression era of the WWII (regulation and rationing of products vis e vis pricing)..?

Please let me know.[DOUBLEPOST=1412824531][/DOUBLEPOST]//MOD:
@ ALL:
I am also part of this debate. Please do not use foul language directly aimed at each other. I have deleted the contents and given warnings without any points. Let us keep it civil and cool.

Thanks.
 
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Too much to quote, and it'a early morning so don't have time , but I'd say some stuff.

No it's not jealousy , jealousy is like - flipkart is listing a 55" LED model and retailer can't afford the billing of the same model and hence haven't got the piece in stock or in display at his store, then the dealer/distibutor/wholesaler/retailer will be jealous of flipkart, it's not what you are implying.

@blkrb0t , No they don't. One business deserves to die if their technology is old, with that I agree but here in this case, a dealer has the same product as flipkart. It's not like flipkart is selling a whole different technology which they have patented or have copyright or something. Also, No I don't know what the word is for "those people". PM me the word, as it's not allowed here.

TV's deserved to die because some new tech came along, LCD's needed to die coz of new tech, and even plasma's. You deserved smartphones because simple phones had old tech. But in this case it's not the same thing.

@asingh They can't retail at the same price point is the faults of OEM's, not the dealers. You probably haven't heard of this or may be you have but OEM's have managed to keep the retail business balanced , how? SRP, MOP. SRP is introduced by Samsung only for now and only for electronics (other than Mobiles) and MOP is introduced by local dealers with their union and it is working wonderfully for them. These are the terms by which no dealer have the balls to give any discount lower than that. If a dealer is caught red handed doing otherwise get's his stocks stopped down and 2nd violation of this rule get's you unauthorized dealer for life. I guess my point is same as I said on my previous post, it's all about being fair. Sure dealers CAN sell at the same price point as flipkart, they won't be hurt doing that but they are just not authorized doing that and have restrictions from the OEM's and market managers. So dealers have 2 choices , either cheat OEM's but that will get them thrown out of the market or just go against flipkart and other e-tailers legally. You just can't argue with oem's managers, coz for starters they know so little, even a 15yro knows much more than them, I wonder how they get recruited, and 2nd they don't listen.

for now, I have to say this only and sure we can have a civil way of doing this.
 
........If my parents business model is blown into pieces by an entity which is greater and offering better scenarios to consumers, then whose fault is this..? The latter or the former. It is obvious ........Let us keep it civil and cool. Thanks.

It's not anybody's fault, if you ask me. It is what it is. The big fish eating the small fish.

I've already aired my views on another thread but I'll repeat myself here briefly. The problem here is of predatory pricing. When traders/retailers find online prices lesser than their cost price, how are they expected to compete? It is frustrating from their pov when they can otherwise fully satisfy a customer/client yet lose out on account of predatory pricing alone.

Whether they require protection is debatable. Overall, whatever's best in the interests of the nation will need to be decided by the powers-that-be.

All I'm saying is, most of the retailers do not "deserve" to have businesses (in which they have put in their life savings) shut down. Sure, these are the business risks one has to contend with. But the "serves them right" attitude of people commenting online seems wrong to me.
 
Its not a free market. FK/Amazon is getting funds of $1/2B from foreign investors and a major part of that money is passed on to you as an offer/advertisement. What about the retailer down the street. He does not get that funding from anyone. So, this minimum selling price or whatever you call it, is a must and the retailer/e-retailer can strike a deal with the OEM and sell based on that but not like this unfair funding. Create a fair ground and let the players do their job in their own ways. If the commerce ministry does that, everyone will be happy nothing more and nothing less. This is the main reason for FDI in retail is not supported by many parties. They have their own political advantages/strategies but ultimately its not a level paying ground for all. Imagine Afghanistan playing Australia and Afghan players will be shot dead if they dont win and nothing for Aussies if they lose. Do you call it a fair match?

I myself bought a TV after checking at Croma from FK at <50% of the price croma quoted which is price error from FK. As a customer of FK, I am happy that I got a great price.
 
The problem here is of predatory pricing. When traders/retailers find online prices lesser than their cost price, how are they expected to compete? It is frustrating from their pov when they can otherwise fully satisfy a customer/client yet lose out on account of predatory pricing alone.
So, tomorrow if some XYZ B&M retailer starts selling at iPhones at 10% discount, so retailers keep their mouth shut since its not online? Ha ha, I don't think so.
 
Can we bring stores like Dmart into the discussion ? Do they receive such fundings as well ? I have seen dmart sell many things at very aggressive rates compared to Kirana.
Aashirwad aata (at one point) was more than 300 Rs for the 10 Kg bag and I used to buy from Dmart fort 245 to 250 Rs.
 
@Sobirvs If you think the technology used in the products they're selling is what's important, then you don't understand the business at all. We're discussing the future of retail business here, not of the products they end up selling.

What's stopping these offline retailers from using their stellar union power to collaborate and create an even better e-commerce solution? I'm sure if they show user traction they'll get funding too.

What's stopping them from giving the best possible product recommendations (instead of trying to push a product with higher margins)?

What's also stopping them from giving the best possible customer service?
 
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Can we bring stores like Dmart into the discussion ? Do they receive such fundings as well ? I have seen dmart sell many things at very aggressive rates compared to Kirana.
Aashirwad aata (at one point) was more than 300 Rs for the 10 Kg bag and I used to buy from Dmart fort 245 to 250 Rs.

Sure. There is a reason for that pricing. DMart gets is bulk and strikes a better deal from ITC where as Kirana guy does not. That Kirana guy has to realize this and price competitively or else close his shop. You are giving that example but I inquired about Nan Pro which is a baby food and they don't have any discount where as my next door pharmacist gives 5% off. Dmart made the profit on Nan and the kirana guy on atta. So, I buy Atta from Dmart and Nan from next door shop. This is fair.

Now, Imagine DMart getting a foreign/domestic funding from Ambani or so and can price Atta at Rs.100 for a year. That's unfair is what I say because for 10kg of atta even ITC has to spend more than Rs.100
 
Can we bring stores like Dmart into the discussion ? Do they receive such fundings as well ? I have seen dmart sell many things at very aggressive rates compared to Kirana.
Aashirwad aata (at one point) was more than 300 Rs for the 10 Kg bag and I used to buy from Dmart fort 245 to 250 Rs.
I always assumed that DMart buys in bulk from distributors and that enables them to source products at a lower price (bulk discount). I'm no expert on how retail works but if it's a free market then wouldn't that entitle dealers (either online or B&M) to negotiate prices with distributors.
If distributors are required by the company to sell products at a specific point to all dealers irrespective of number of units sold then it would be up to the dealers to offer discounts from their commission (cutting into their profits). If that is also barred by price control regulations then we'll have a situation where everything is sold at MRP, i.e. bad for consumers.

Apart from pricing, does anyone have experience with returning merchandise. My Mass Effect 3 DVD had defective packaging from manufacturer (paper glued to back of disc) so it didn't work. When I called FK support, they sent a free replacement and the original discs were picked up by the courier. On the B&M side, I was unable to return an unused T-shirt at Shoppers Stop (had a small black mark on the sleeve) which I hadn't noticed while purchasing it a day before.
 
Sure. There is a reason for that pricing. DMart gets is bulk and strikes a better deal from ITC where as Kirana guy does not. That Kirana guy has to realize this and price competitively or else close his shop. You are giving that example but I inquired about Nan Pro which is a baby food and they don't have any discount where as my next door pharmacist gives 5% off. Dmart made the profit on Nan and the kirana guy on atta. So, I buy Atta from Dmart and Nan from next door shop. This is fair.

Now, Imagine DMart getting a foreign/domestic funding from Ambani or so and can price Atta at Rs.100 for a year. That's unfair is what I say because for 10kg of atta even ITC has to spend more than Rs.100

Offtopic: I never find Similac on discount anywhere :p
 
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