Partners on Indefinite mass Strike –Protest against brands favoring etailers

The IT industry in India has seen a massive surge in the unethical price parity issue lately. The backlash starts now- As a part of protest against Brands and National distributor over alleged disparity in pricing in favor of e-tailers  the industry observed a nationwide purchase ban on 15^th Dec 2014. The ban on the first day observe a major sales drop pressuring brands and ND’s to take concrete decision rather than issuing flat assurance advisories  .The news first broke in ITPV-IT channels regional magazine on 10^th December.

According to the industry estimates, vendors feel that there is 10% of manipulation happening at the online level. However, industry stalwarts believe that most sellers are diverting a large bulk of their stocks to etailers , leading to an industry wide loss of approximately 35% to brick-and-mortar channels.

Seeking a level playing field to do business in the country the IT Associations across India have urged   vendors and the government to look into the matter and offer concrete results. In a directive from FAIITA- Federation of All India Associations – IT players have called for a purchase ban and mass strike across the country, supported by over 140 IT regional associations in India.

All the state associations across the country have joined the movement to create a level playing field in the market and stop the unethical practices. UP, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab,Northeast , MP and South India have already started the agitation supported by the associations countrywide.

Saket Kapoor, Secretary, PCAIT and Jt. Secretary, FAIITA said, “According to our meetings and discussion with brands, the representative brand owners have the intent for a solution but do not know the way to start. Through this agitation we are sending a message that channel partners will now decide – whether to close the business and look for an alternative.”

With unethical pricing eating into the business of channel partners each day, individual partners are suffering a huge loss in business and this has increased since Diwali, when the massive GOSF ( Great Online Shopping Festival) offers got all customers shopping from websites rather than stores. “The business is falling and channels are losing hope. The vendors are becoming the dominant factor in the industry and want to regulate the market. It’s a very illegitimate way of doing business. To stop this, brand owners should come up with strategies. They should come up with a radical change to stop this menace,” adds Saket.

The associations are fighting for a level playing field for everyone. Because of non business intentions, online players are killing the business of channel community. Kshitij M. Kotak, President, ASIRT opines, “Channels are not able to sell the stocks. Vendors are creating a monopoly in the market and want only those people can sell who sell through them. Partners have decided to fight against the vendors. They are trying to get a dominant position in the market. Because of this issue, we are losing respect in the eyes of customers. Partners who were in the business from a decade and have had loyal customers for the last 25 years are facing losses. Their customers have left them, only to purchase from online stores. The fact is government has to act on the issue. Vendors are not our targets; it’s the government who needs to take an action.”

If this menace is going to continue for another year, the partner community will see a major fall in business and only people who are specialized in the field will survive in the industry. Apart from IT industry, the other sector that has taken a hit from unethical pricing is the telecom.

In the southern and western states, the associations took to the streets to protest against the problem, UPCDA (Uttar Pradesh Computer Dealer’s Association) also plans to adopt the same strategy from 16^th December 2014. The association has started the agitation a week ago but has not seen any concrete result. Vipul Garg, President, UPCDA says, “The purpose of the agitation is to show to the national distributors that we are a one community and will fight for justice. We want a level playing field.”

Participating in the agitation, PACT along with 14 other associations from Punjab has joined the nationwide call and banned the purchase from national distributors. Gurpreet Singh Jagdev, Media Advisor, PACT informs, “We will put pressure on vendors while stopping purchases of products from the national distributors. However, there are 3-4 vendors who have corrected the situation. Samsung is one of them who took timely action.”