Traders to not supply goods to e-tailers over lesser pricing issue

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Nobody ain't saints. Swindlers are every where. It is like saying politicians are the wiliest crooks. They are just ordinary crooks but with much wider a scope. There are bad sellers and fair sellers.. we all have seen the likes of both. A few months back I had a local electrical shop guy replace my laptop adapter's plug head for just Rs8/- he even fixed it on to the end of the cord for me. All for just eight rupees. And last week I went to 3 shops to buy an OTG cable. For the same product the prices were 200, 150 and 80. I bought it for Rs.80 in the end.

What I'm saying is not everyone are crooks. These guys put up a shop to make a living. And oh yes.. there are crooks. But let us not generalize everyone to be so.

And please don't say these online sellers are saints. Yes they are good from a customer stand point. But behind the scenes...? Any idea how amazon treats their warehouse employees or how hostile is their work environment? Just google.

Would you stand with the devil just because he'll give you a big grin and a lollipop for free?
 
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aok said:
Would you stand with the devil just because he'll give you a big grin and a lollipop for free?
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I think you already answered your question - "Not all ain't saints and not all are crooks" If both are evil - the choice should be to vision long and choose lesser of the two.
 
Yeah well, the adaptability bit might simply mean giving it up altogether for many. Maybe look for a naukri instead. Easier said than done.
For e.g., someone mentioned clothes having a 40% margin & the Co. taking back the unsold stock. Not every business has those sorts of margins & such willing cos. Remember, we are talking about predatory pricing here.

I can understand retailers protesting. & I speak from experience as a retailer. Though I deal with a product category not as seriously affected by e-sellers, I still come across the odd occasion that a customer will state what price it is available for online. & there's just no way I can match it. Heck, even my distributor won't be able to match it. So only imagine what electronics B&M retailers must be facing when electronics e-sellers are so ubiquitous.
It is already difficult to make ends meet with rising costs & competition. Such practices will kill many businesses.

In such a scenario, the buzzword 'adapt' basically means having enough money to pump in, & keep things running for an extended period, despite losses. So yes, essentially it is a typical case of the big fish eating the small fish.
You might argue that's just business. & maybe you are right. But it just hurts to see people here say that it serves them just right. I agree that there are unscrupulous retailers (as well as e-tailers). & every businessman/retailer will tell you there are unscrupulous clients/customers as well. Doesn't mean everyone's the same.
 
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rdst_1 said:
I never assumed that online stores don't have those kinds of overheads. But then they are thriving even when not making any profits. Do you think any normal shopkeeper can do that. They will have to close up shop and look at some other means to earn their living. Let's look at someone we know, Amarbir of Lynx-India. He had to close-up shop because the margins weren't just not there. Rents are sky high and paying skilled people ain't cheap either. I know his staff personally and they told me that he had been facing losses for a long time before he took that decision. He did have a very good alternate source of income which allowed him to continue pursuing his passion but it became a big burden in the end.
I get that most people are happy about this and yes most shopkeepers might deserve this but two wrongs don't make a right and that's what I am against. Big companies are greedy like hell. They don't leave enough margin for an average shopkeeper to give a competitive price.

The biggest point is that consumers seem to be happy because there is competition but fail to realize that they are actually killing the competition by not competing fairly.
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Amarbir from Lynx was also an a-hole. Just incase you didnt know. Check the thread and the atrocious reviews. And it was a personal experience along with many others from this very forum.
 
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We have issues with weird sellers from eBay, shopclues, snapdeal. It's nothing different from offline sellers. But I have had some better deals from offline Croma in comparison to a small retailer, so should we shut them down as well??
 
I think with online shopping, there is a more streamlined experience in terms of price. If you are someone that is price sensitive, you have offers and deals, if not you also get door step delivery, excellent redressal mechanism, and since they are a big brand, you can always take to Facebook/Twitter to complain and get things sorted. I wouldn't trade these features for anything.

Yes you get to check products in shops, have a salesman lecture you on random shit, even listen to your sad stories, but you get reviews online for most products which translate to a better choice.
 
Party Monger said:
Look at it this way. Offline retailers are **** when it comes to pricing anyway. In simple words, even if amazon and flipkart change their prices to normal levels, we'l be paying as much as the current offline charges. So even if something was available offline, I prefer the hassle free online experience, where I dont have to deal with shitty owners trying to fool me with random logic and half baked knowledge. "Saar this has 2gb graphics and is 10k cheaper than the other one with 1gb graphics. Le lo, mast deal hai." Retards.
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This.
 
I honestly dont know what margins you guys are talking about. A dealer at lamington literally add's 50-100 bucks on an article and forwards the same. A guy like prime gets better margins cause he purchases and sells only those items on which he can do a bulk deal.
A contact i know sold 25 1 tb hdd's to amazon and the next day the product was listed 600 bucks below his sale price. I told him to repurchase the same using a different id..
Of my last 3 purchases online, a G105 keyboard was faulty and a t-shirt was torn. So its not like online etailers are not screwing things up. And tbh 2 out of 3 is a really bad ratio.

Dont get me wrong, i too keep looking for online deals cause lets be honest, we all love to pay the lowest price, but to flag a retailer and putting him out of business is plain old wrong.
 
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edge111hussain said:
Dont get me wrong, i too keep looking for online deals cause lets be honest, we all love to pay the lowest price, but to flag a retailer and putting him out of business is plain old wrong.
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It is not E-retailers who is putting our local retailers out of business. It is us who is choosing E-retailers over our local retailers just to save some bucks.

Look what I do If go to buy some expensive stuff like laptop etc I am ready to pay some extra money to local retailers if the price difference is 3-4k. I tell them clearly I could get this item much cheaper online but since I want buy it from you I could give you some extra money but price would be mine not yours if he accepts my offers its a deal other wise I buy stuff online.

But I have stopped buying branded clothing offline. I think they don't need me to run their business they are already at good profit.
 
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Jobs lost in one sector will be recovered in other. Helpers and assistants in brick and mortar shops may lose their jobs but at the same time the logistics companies will start hiring to meet the new-found demand. This will further result in growth of warehousing industry and its ancilliaries . This will also see increased hiring in CallCenters as these are the main interfaces between an eCommerce company and a Customer.
 
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rahuljawale said:
Jobs lost in one sector will be recovered in other. Helpers and assistants in brick and mortar shops may lose their jobs but at the same time the logistics companies will start hiring to meet the new-found demand. This will further result in growth of warehousing industry and its ancilliaries . This will also see increased hiring in CallCenters as these are the main interfaces between an eCommerce company and a Customer.
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A guy working at these shops can barely speak Hindi properly and you think a call centre is their place? These are pre dominantly marwadi guys..
Anyways my experience offline has been better than online so I guess To each their own.
 
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^ I think Rahul wanted to convey that they could be employed in Warehouses/Similar jobs with their previous work experiences, no matter what ever community they belong to.
 
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^^ yes; in that kind of scenario, the work-mkt. may see a spurt in vacancies for the customer-service industries, to be filled in by general populace, including or barring the personnel displaced from their B&M shops-work, while the latter may themselves get exclusively inducted in rising numbers to the warehousing-work/industries and allied. that said, i feel, the ongoing tussle notwithstanding, both the kind of marketplaces (ie, online & offline) will stay, esp. in a market & an economy like ours, though perhaps never in equivalence, with one gaining the dominance over the other in the continuous scuffle & rough-and-tumble.
 
Sanav3 said:
We have issues with weird sellers from eBay, shopclues, snapdeal. It's nothing different from offline sellers. But I have had some better deals from offline Croma in comparison to a small retailer, so should we shut them down as well??
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If I think back to all the online purchases I have done since circa 2008, I can maybe think of one seller causing issues. Purplle.com. I have ordered 2x from them (luckily COD) but they never deliver. It is basically a sham-shell site. Now if I think back since 2008, to the offline retail (not hyper marts) I have done. Numerous examples come up (though the frequency of visit is greater than online) of misconduct, rude shop keepers, lying, selling expired stock, palming of opened packages, suggesting moronic alternatives, blissful ignorance, refusal of service (lunch time), mute decorum (do not reply), mutter-shutter (reply incoherently), jacked up pricing, suppressing freebie attachments (sell them off separately) and last but not the least: the extreme unhygienic condition of the stores. Basically this breed of sellers have to change their attitude (and start treating customers with respect), and for Christ's sake, keep the shops clean. They are filthy and look like pigstys. I sincerely hope the online sector runs all of these shops out of business. And we are left with hypermarts and online.
 
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A lot of members are echoing the view that they wish for B&M stores to shut down. I realize that you all have had unpleasant experiences with many such stores. & I understand the anger as well. No person wants to be treated like dirt, let alone someone who is paying for a product/service. Even I walk out of stores when I'm not treated right. ('Meri Haay Lagegi' I mutter to myself).

So when you choose to not do business with such unscrupulous shop-owners, it's fair game. That imo is the normal course of business, & I have no qualms with that.
But we are talking about predatory pricing here, meant to kill businesses - both good & bad. That is where I feel it is unfair. Even businessmen practicing clean, honest & fair dealings with a focus on customer satisfaction cannot compete.
I've had customers tell me that they'd like to buy from me but that the price difference is too much to pass up on. I'm helpless & at the same time I can understand their pov. & these are customers who've been coming to us for 30-40 years.
Sure, there are a few who will buy knowing fully well that a cheaper alternative is available, just for the sake of relations. But not enough for us to carry on unaffected.

All I'm asking for is a bit of sensitivity. No one's asking you to go & buy from B&M like some sort of Swaraj movement on this thread here. Just try & understand the other pov, that's all. The attitude reminds me (though not as grave or shocking here on TE, I might add) of Ajit Pawar's infamous comments recently.

Sure, I understand that the big fish will eat the small fish. That life is unfair. That every person will try to maximize his own benefits. Nothing discussed on this thread will change things. Let's just think twice before we post.
 
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As online players reduce B&M market share, overheads for the B&M sales and supply channels will increase, and cause a vicious cycle of higher prices and lower sales which will eventually kill off most small to medium scale B&M players.

Then you'll have Large modern trade outlets and Online sellers who will have an oligopoly, and charge whatever they want, and things will be no better than they are now.
 
asingh said:
If I think back to all the online purchases I have done since circa 2008, I can maybe think of one seller causing issues. Purplle.com. I have ordered 2x from them (luckily COD) but they never deliver. It is basically a sham-shell site. Now if I think back since 2008, to the offline retail (not hyper marts) I have done. Numerous examples come up (though the frequency of visit is greater than online) of misconduct, rude shop keepers, lying, selling expired stock, palming of opened packages, suggesting moronic alternatives, blissful ignorance, refusal of service (lunch time), mute decorum (do not reply), mutter-shutter (reply incoherently), jacked up pricing, suppressing freebie attachments (sell them off separately) and last but not the least: the extreme unhygienic condition of the stores. Basically this breed of sellers have to change their attitude (and start treating customers with respect), and for Christ's sake, keep the shops clean. They are filthy and look like pigstys. I sincerely hope the online sector runs all of these shops out of business. And we are left with hypermarts and online.
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Do you consider Ezone to be a good hypermart?
I find their prices to be atrocious.
 
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