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Buyers stand to lose if phone companies go for price parity: Experts

NEW DELHI: Mobile phone buyers may not be able to benefit from higher discounts online if handset makers are forced to implement pricing parity across retail channels amid increasing threats of boycott by offline sellers and increasing scrutiny of authorities. This would also force handset makers to tweak their marketing strategies to attract buyers, said market watchers.

“This can potentially impact prices to some extent,” said Navkender Singh, research director at International Data Corporation, India.

“Since the offline operations costs are relatively higher than online, brands will be forced to match the offline and online prices. We should expect some fast-moving models to get price correction in online.” Mobile phones often cost Rs 2,000-3,000 less on e-commerce channels than in physical stores owing to exclusive deals with handset brands.

Currently, e-commerce channels account for nearly 40% of overall sales of smartphones while bricks-and-mortar stores sell the bulk of handsets, according to data from TechArc Research. Amid increasing pressure, though, several handset makers have expressed their intentions to end exclusive online launches and bring price parity across their sales channels.

Source: Economic Times