The Twin Cities Computers Dealers Association (TCCDA), one of the oldest IT associations in South India today “shut down” all the IT shops in CTC, Ameerpet and rest of the places in Hyderabad and Secunderabad. It was a complete bandh successfully handled by TCCDA with the support of all the IT channel dealers standing with the association to protest the online sellers.
There were no purchase, sales and dispatches done today as the association requested each and every dealer to stand for unity, honesty and commitment for the cause of entire channel fraternity. It was surprising to see 1000+ gathering of owners and employees, few with black T-shirts and most of them wearing black head bands; this was one of the best rallies ever seen in the IT dealers of the country under the leadership of M.Veera Swamy, President, TCCDA. Most of the IT dealers took a candle light oath with the promise of not buying and selling to online. This was another feather on the cap of Veera Swamy and his team who has performed extremely well by organizing a huge protest against the unethical practice by online sellers.
The online shopping trend sweeps digital India, offline retailers are a worried lot, with sales of electronic goods, consumer durables and utility products declining across cities and towns even during the peak festival season says, Vikas Hisariya, Vice-President, TCCDA.
Speaking to media persons here today Veera Swamy said e-commerce big shots pitching for more orders, offering hefty discounts and freebies in the virtual world, vendors in the real world arae crying foul of unfair competition and a non-level playing field. The growing competition among them (e-retailers) for ramping up sales at any cost is affecting our business, as we do not see the kind of footfalls we got even year ago and our retail sales have taken a severe hit because many a smart’ buyers prefer shop online where prices are lower than we are able to give on several goods.
Though the annual sales turnover of the offline retail sector is estimated to be $25 billion (Rs.150, 000 crore) as against $3 billion (Rs.18, 000 crore) of the emerging e-tail sector, many retail formats are feeling the heat of their tech-savvy counterparts. Unlike e-retailers who sell goods at factory price and save on overheads by delivering them to buyers through courier, we have to factor intermediary costs and profit margin within the MRP. E-retailers also do not pay value added tax (VAT) on sales, as they claim to be just shipping the goods from source (factory) to end-user,” the manager said on anonymity.
The big players are cheating online shoppers with deceptive offers and false promises. The retailers took the issue before the Union Minister of state for commerce and Industry Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman last month and she assured the dealers that she would look into the issue however, says, Lalit Kothari,Secretary, TCCDA.
India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley mentioned liberalizing e-commerce in his July budget speech, but so far the government has not taken any steps to change the foreign investment restrictions.
It may be a while before the big investment outlays translate into profits. Most of the billions raised by e-commerce businesses will be plowed back into building up the companies, from acquiring warehouses to developing shipping networks and also offering deep discounts to squeeze smaller players out of the market.
There are also disadvantages to buying and selling online, these include increased risk of identity, theft when paying for your goods online; it can be very easy for someone to intercept sensitive information such as a credit card number, address, phone number or account number. Also there is a possibility of seller fraud: If the seller is fraudulent, he or she might accept your payment and either refuse to send you your item, or send you the wrong or a defective product, says, Menon, Ex-President, TCCDA.