According to to a report published in Economic Times, the offline stores have created 5 to 10 or even more user accounts on these e-commerce sites to order products to avoid restrictions on the number of discounted units and cashback offers that a user can avail. The report further suggests that these offline retailers have accounted for more than 20% of the total sales of smartphones and even the FMCG products from online marketplaces this festive season. As per the industry experts, the prices that the e-commerce sites are offering are mostly below from those at which offline distributors are offering these products. The most popular smartphone brands which are bought by offline traders include the iPhones, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, Motorola, and Samsung. These devices are available on either at massive discounts or on cash back offers. In FMCG category, retailers are mostly buying bundled packs on which the discounts are the highest. These include from categories like detergents, soaps, sanitary pads, diapers, chocolates, sauces, and snacks etc. “The online discounting this time has been far too much, especially in some categories and products. In fact, in a few smartphone models, it (price on e-commerce sites) is even below the distributor price. Hence, several smaller retailers are buying it online,” said Kumar Rajagopalan, Chief Executive- Retailers Association of India.
