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Originally Posted by binand - Charge entry fee (adjusted against final purchase) to the store, to cover overheads. Quote:
Originally Posted by carboy No one will come to his store | |
First of all, I was not saying this is exactly what the B&M store owner should do. I am not their consultant.
Second - you are probably guessing here. The huge number of tradeshows and malls and other kind of activities that organize sales but require an entry fee (these keep happening all over India) proves that this model works. Now to get it working to a specific scenario, it is up to the business owner.
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Originally Posted by binand - Make sure that the customer orders from HIS online store (say, by way of a discount code). Quote:
Originally Posted by carboy But he still has more expenses than a pure online store, so he cannot provide the same prices as a pure online store. | |
Ultimately, the business owner will realize two things:
- He cannot compete with online on price. He has to provide increased value addition for the premium he is forced to charge. Touch-and-feel is one common way. In-store demo and installation support is another. Instant gratification could be a third. And so on - there can be a lot many more options. For other goods, online is simply a cheaper way of selling and those have to move there.
- He cannot expect to force his customers to adapt to his way of doing business. For any business to survive, it has to adapt to changing customer preferences, not the other way round. A company called International Business Machines redefined what a business machine is, over the course of its 100+ years of existence to stay relevant. It did not run to regulators when its whole product lines went obsolete - it instead came up with new products and new lines of business.
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Originally Posted by binand - Provide the same benefits as ordering online. If the customer is in HIS store already, why does she need to go online to order? Provide home delivery and COD. Or easy returns. Quote:
Originally Posted by carboy Customer goes online because it may be cheaper. And a B & M cannot provide the same cheaper price because he has to pay for prime real estate, lot of sales guys in the shop and other overheads which the pure online store does not have. | |
So as I said, it is simply a more expensive way of doing business. Either abandon it, or take a hit on the margin, or reduce costs elsewhere. Business 101.
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Originally Posted by Trust_In_Thrust What i would like to understand how Flipkart , Snapdeal etc are able to sell goods wherein OEM's of the sold products refuse to honor warranty saying they are illegal imports in India. I know for sure among many JBL doesnot honour warranaty on goods bought online except there own store .This means these online firms are looting tax departments as these products they sell at such low prices first reduce sales of legal manufactured/imported goods in india and second do not pay any taxes to government . |
There are many aspects here, without knowing specifics it is not easy to say which it is.
1. Online vendors are buying reburbished goods and passing them off as new. Manufacturers will obviously refuse to honour warranty on these.
2. Online vendors are buying genuine goods from distributors. Manufacturers are illegally refusing to honour warranty.
In the second case, there could be a cause for a complaint to the CCI. More so, if one can prove cartelization.
I'm not sure why you bring taxation into the picture. The sales tax, VAT and other applicable taxes are all included in the price, and I am yet to see an online vendor who didn't provide me with a tax invoice. Even the small-time vendors on Ebay do it. Where is the loot?
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Originally Posted by Trust_In_Thrust Also CCI probe is justified . What will happen if Amazon decides to offer 50% off MRP for say 1month..6month...1year , they have the resource to do it !It will literally wipe out market .What Flipkart is doing is just blowing VC funding improve market cap then probably list or being sold to global major . the owners cash out . |
First of all, for CCI probe there is a condition of "dominant position". It will be tough to prove that Flipkart has a dominant position when numbers I see say retail in India is $400 billion and out of this, only $1.5 billion happens online.
Second point, Amazon does not have the resources, and its CEO does not have the control to offer 50% discount off MRP for all products for 1 month, 6 months, 1 year. This is a what-if scenario so much out in fantasy land that we can, well, discount it.
Third, if Flipkart is blowing VC funds then it is the VC's own fault. They have sufficient control over FK management's decisions (by all accounts, the acquisition of Myntra was forced upon Flipkart by VCs) so I'm sure FK had to run the Big Billion Day through them and they stamped their approval on it. Now it seems the Ministry of Commerce is getting involved. :-)
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Originally Posted by Trust_In_Thrust I know for sure there is block of 6mobile shops side by side where i stay and they fix prices (Now what can CCI do in this) ! |
Nothing. the CCI won't even bother. You need to prove dominant position. Are there no other mobile shops in town?
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Originally Posted by carboy It has Gorilla Glass which is more scratch proof than any scratch guard. Quote:
Originally Posted by Gannu_1 I know that but my friend has managed to scratch his Lumia 925 with a bunch of keys in his pocket. | |
Lumia 925 has Gorilla Glass 2. Moto E has Gorilla Glass 3. The latter is a lot tougher than the former.