Amid protest by retail trade bodies about deep discounts by big e-commerce players like Amazon and Flipkart, all major e-commerce platforms have announced their biggest sales of the year.
The trade bodies have called deep discounts an unethical practice and asked the government to intervene. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) accused them of undermining the country’s retail trade ecosystem.
“These discounts are aimed at attracting consumers, they flagrantly violate rules governing fair trade and pricing. Such excessive discounting not only distorts market competition but also creates an uneven playing field, particularly harming smaller retailers and businesses that cannot compete with these deep discounts,” said B.C. Bhartia, CAIT National President.
Major players in the e-commerce space are ramping up their marketing campaigns and offering significant price cuts to attract consumers during this crucial shopping period.
In an exclusive conversation with ANI, Saurabh Srivastava, Vice President of Categories at Amazon India, expressed the company’s enthusiasm for its highly anticipated sale.
“We are super excited about the upcoming Amazon Great Indian Festival. Last year, it was our biggest festival sale ever, and this year we are expecting it to be the biggest ever again. We have 16 lakh sellers and brand partners who are ready with their best offers. Never seen before prices across electronics, mobile, fashion, health, beauty, and grocery. Across all these, we have never seen before offers that these sellers are going to come up with,” he said.
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Responding to the questions of small businesses hurting from the big discounts he stated, “We have always been about enabling sellers, small and medium businesses, women entrepreneurs, karigars, weavers, bringing all of them together and making ensuring that they can reach and reach customers across the country.
We have been focused on digitizing them. We have in fact made a pledge. So for example, one of our pledge was that we want to enable from a base of 16 lac seller, we wanted to enable exports for them”.
However, while customers look forward to the discounts, these strategies have ignited concerns among small trade bodies, which argue that such aggressive pricing tactics negatively impact traditional small businesses.
The small traders and retailers claim that the steep discounts offered by major e-commerce platforms make it difficult for them to compete, as they often lack the resources to match the offers made by large online retailers.
According to them, while large e-commerce companies benefit from massive sales, small retailers are struggling to maintain their foothold in the market, especially during the festive season when their businesses would traditionally thrive.
(INPUTS FROM ANI)
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