Smart parity? Mobiles may go from 'online' to 'offline'

In a major relief to the offline retailers, Realme, Oppo, and Vivo are unlikely to launch any model that will be sold only on e-commerce like Flipkart and Amazon, according to an Economic Times (ET) report. The move came amid growing unrest among the offline smartphone outlets, who wanted parity in the discounts and promotions of similar models on both offline and online channels, in a bid to recover their suffering business.

Oppo and Vivo have agreed in principle to the decision, while Realme has given the retailers an official assurance. The decision will be implemented from January as they have agreements with the online retailers till December. However, as per the ET report, Xiaomi and Samsung officials are yet to give any assurance in this regard.

Realme India chief executive Madhav Sheth said that the company believes in fair trade and giving customers of any platform the same benefits.

This will help the offline sellers who often suffer because of the heavy discount given the online platform, leading buyers to prefer the one available at a lower price. In a conversation with Economic Times, Arvinder Khurana, president of All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA) said that Realme, Oppo, and Vivo have assured to maintain a parity between offline and online smartphone retailers.

E-commerce occupies 40% of India's smartphone market, and this move will certainly change the dynamics of the smartphone business of leading brands.