Mobile Retailer’s Body To Stop Sale Of OnePlus Products

SUMMARY

"Extra selling efforts by deploying exclusive person for promoting OnePlus phones at our cost was undertaken. There was no cost sharing by OnePlus"

"The secondary sale-related reimbursement claims were not settled for more than 6 months and ran up to crores of rupees for the retail chains"

With the execution of this move, OnePlus smartphones, tablets, and wearables will become unavailable in over 3000 collective outlets

The Organised Retailers Association (ORA) has decided to discontinue the sale of OnePlus products from May 1, citing several ‘unresolved concerns’ which include low-profit margins, delays in claim processing and bundling.

ORA has appealed to OnePlus to resolve the issues before the end of this month to ensure the sales are not disrupted.

During a meeting, the association said that the narrow margins have made it challenging for them to sustain their businesses, particularly amid rising operational and financial costs.

Sharing the excerpts from the meeting with Inc42, ORA said, “Earlier OnePlus’s sale was only through online channel and there was no distribution cost for them. Their mobiles had reasonable pull from customers and the mainline channel accepted to sell OnePlus. Off late the pull has come down and old model inventory is piled up with the retailers.”

“Extra selling efforts by deploying exclusive person for promoting OnePlus phones at our cost was undertaken. There was no cost sharing by OnePlus. The margins were also very low and hence not viable.”

ORA further said, “The secondary sale-related reimbursement claims were not settled for more than 6 months and ran up to crores of rupees for the retail chains. Many in-person meetings had in this regard were futile and still claims are pending.”

OnePlus has declined to comment on Inc42’s queries on the development.

With the execution of this move, OnePlus smartphones, tablets, and wearables will become unavailable in over 3000 collective outlets which amounts to over 40% of the mobile phone business across South India.

“Throughout the past year, we have encountered significant obstacles associated with selling OnePlus products, which remain unresolved. These challenges include, but are not limited to narrow profit margins, delays in claim processing, mandatory bundling, model-specific bundling targets,” Sridhar TS, president of South Indian Organised Retailers Association (ORA), said in its April 10 letter to OnePlus India’s director of sales, Ranjeet Singh.

“Continued delays and complications in processing warranty and service claims have led to customer dissatisfaction and added burden on our end. Despite repeated attempts to escalate and resolve these issues, the problem has not been resolved,” the letter said.

Inc42 has seen a copy of the letter.

Sridhar further wrote, “Despite our persistent efforts to address these concerns with your company, little progress or resolution has been achieved. Promises made have not been fulfilled, leaving us with no recourse but to take this drastic measure,”

“Regrettably, the ongoing issues have left us with no alternative but to discontinue the sale of your products in our stores. We have decided to halt the retail of OnePlus products in our establishments from May 1, 2024,” he said.

It is pertinent to note that OnePlus is looking to ramp up new technologies in the 5G space in India. Just in January this year, it announced a strategic partnership with Reliance to set up a 5G Innovation Lab.

It was reported last year in October that OnePlus and Realme pulled the plug on sales and production of smart televisions in India.