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Mumbai: This festive season, buy a phone and you could get a car or even a flat. Only catch, you need to buy the handset from a brick and mortar store.
Handset retailers<\/a> are desperately trying to woo prospective customers away from ecommerce platforms using offers such as gift vouchers, gym memberships, free cosmetic laser treatments and, at the very least, a free car service, along with your new phone.
This, as offline retailers fear that the third wave, logistical challenges and supply chain concerns will push more customers towards online channels.
In Ahmedabad, retailers have pooled in resources, tied up with salons, gyms and have a lucky draw prize worth ₹25 lakh. “If a customer comes in, he gets an envelope with 8-10 vouchers and they could be something like a car wash service, laser removal in a parlour or one-month gym membership free,” said Nikunj P Patel, president for All India Mobile Retailers Association Gujarat<\/a>.
Patel owns 45 stores under his retail chain, Fonebook, and is hopeful that these incentives will work. \"There are customers who wanted to buy some of the newlylaunched phones from ecommerce platforms but since we announced our schemes, have come to the stores,\" said Patel.
In India, the online and offline markets are almost on a par with Covid-19 pushing more and more customers towards purchases on ecommerce websites.
In a recent report, IDC noted the revival of smartphone sales towards the end of a muted April-June quarter, driven mainly by e-tailers. This uptick resulted in a record share of 51% for the online channel, a 113% year-on-year growth. In comparison, the online share of smartphone sales was around 37% to offline’s 63% in the April-June quarter of 2019.