Partnering with marketplaces to opening experience stores – tactics vary for the upcoming shopping season

The market is abuzz with the shopping season. Leading marketplaces like Amazon, Snapdeal,Flipkart, Shopclues and others are scrambling to net the best sales for themselves through the time tested strategy – discounts.

Vertical factions attempting different strategy

However, others like jewellery retail BlueStone, furniture stores Pepperfry and Urban Ladder feel differently. They are of the opinion that mere visits do not guarantee purchases. Kashyap Vadapalli, Pepperfry’s CMO explains,

“The Indian buyer likes to compare on price, delivery, warranty, service and easy return -which the marketplaces fall short on. While the traffic increases by close to 100%, conversions go up by 50% during the festive season.”

Pepperfry has recently got funding from its primary investors. The company will use the money to strengthen its logistics and to launch experience centres.

Likewise, rival Urban Ladder has opened a store in Amazon. Sanjay Gupta, CMO at Urban Ladder says,

“Our tie-up with Amazon India is to get more users to the platform and we are live with 30% of our catalogue right now. We will not be discounting products on the marketplace as part of the sale event and have a limited offer on few products ranging from 7-25%. Diwali is a time for launching new collections.”

Selling products online without manufacturers’ consent

Meanwhile, traders are taking to the internet to sell products normally sold through direct networks. These companies are fretting over the sale of their products online. Tupperware, Amway and others are concerned with sellers putting up the products on marketplaces. This goes against their mode of operation, they claim.

Shilpa Ajwani, MD of Tupperware India said,

“We have in the past written to online sellers to refrain from offering our products on their ecommerce sites. We are assessing next steps in accordance with the Direct Selling guidelines.”

Anshu Budhraja, CEO, Amway India made the company’s stand on the matter very clear,

“All of Amway’s products sold by Amway Business Owners (ABOs) are backed by a refund policy. We don’t offer any refund on a product sold through a third-party online platform.”