Mobile Phone Prices On Ecomm Platforms Might Go Up—Here’s Why

All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA) has once again written to the leading mobile phone manufacturers — Xiaomi, Samsung, and OnePlus — asking them to control deep discounting on their products listed on ecommerce websites like Amazon and Flipkart.

The association AIMRA wrote to the mobile phone manufacturers on January 10. In the letter, AIMRA told the manufacturer that unless the online discounting is controlled, the retailers will sell their products at the prices of ecommerce websites. The cell phone retailers have also informed the brands that they might also boycott selling their products unless the online price is controlled.

“We feel the time has come for brands to take our issues seriously, else retailers/associations will not fear to boycott the brands. We are not in favour of force but if the current scenario demands it, we shall not withdraw,” the association wrote.

AIMRA had also written a letter to mobile phone manufacturers in December 2019 asking them to take a look at the deep discounting issue. In that letter as well, AIMRA had written about boycotting the brand, unless the discounts are controlled. The previous letter was also sent to Oppo, Vivo and Realme, along with Xiaomi, Samsung and OnePlus

The Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Oppo, Vivo and Realme had assured AIMRA that their products would be sold at the same price and time on both online and offline stores.

Recently, the AIMRA had also expressed its discontent over competition commission of India’s (CCIs) self-regulation policy for ecommerce platforms. President of AIMRA, Arvinder Khurana, said, “If they (ecommerce players) wanted to self-regulate, they would have never indulged in unfair practices and flouted FDI norms in the first place.”

In its report, ‘Market Study on E-commerce in India: Key Findings and Observations’, CCI asked ecommerce companies to keep a check on discounting, revision in the contract term, data collection, review mechanism and search ranking themselves.

For discounting, CCI has asked ecommerce to maintain clear and transparent policies and note the basis of discount rates for different products and sellers. In addition, ecommerce platforms will also have to list the implication of participation or non-participation in discount schemes.

However, CCI had also noted that it still holds the authority to investigate deep discounting practices by ecommerce platforms. The statutory body also said that it will also scrutinise the contract terms between ecommerce companies and sellers.