Hyderabad: Dumping of products and offering deep discounts have led to the clearance of old stocks for sellers affiliated with the e-commerce industry. Offline stores, on the other hand, find few takers and and many of them are still stuck with unsold stocks.
Mr K. Chakravorty, a senior retail manager with a chain of stores, explained, “The online market has allowed for variety and a range of new fashionable products. Our stores find it difficult to compete. For this reason, the annual sale offline has become an exercise of getting rid of old stocks.”
He said this was not so earlier as there were still margins for the companies. “Now we have ‘take 3 for price of 1’ and many other offers,” Mr Chakravorty said.
This does not work with smart customers who browse through offers on the Internet every day.
Mr Nitin Sethi, manager with a retail chain, said there were customers for electronic gadgets, accessories, music products and other high-end goods for whom the attraction was not the discounts on offer.
“It is the manufacturing date, reviews and reports on the products which are studied before they are bought. For smart customers, the value for their price is the concern,” Mr Sethi said.
The e-commerce sector has opened a wide range where price and product comparison is carried out and some of them also wait for the best buys. These are not impulsive customers but those whose decisions are informed.
