Though Amazon and Flipkart are getting back to normalcy, a bunch of big and small consumer goods brands are going to list themselves directly as sellers on these two e-commerce marketplaces or appoint an authorised seller to ensure that they are able to tide over any government policy uncertainties by ensuring stocks are always available and sold as per their pricing term.
Brands like Bosch, Puma, Dyson, Siemens, BPL and Bagrry’s, amongst others, are contemplating such a move. This comes after online sales stumbled in the last seven days with several brands, especially the online exclusive or focused one, taking a beating with no sales after big sellers and services disappeared from the marketplaces to meet the revised FDI norms in e-commerce that kicked in from February 1.
“We would grow our direct online sales in Amazon, Flipkart and Paytm Mall since it will help in risk mitigation, help us understand the online business better and ensure our products are always in stock for consumers,” said Aditya Bagri, director at breakfast cereal maker Bagrrys India. Though the company sells through large sellers like Cloudtail in Amazon, it had ensured stocks were available in Amazon for the brief period when Cloudtail had disappeared.
German shoe and sportswear maker Puma India MD Abhishek Ganguly said the company is targeting at trebling growth in direct sales from online marketplaces this year against flat growth through alpha sellers with lot of investment put in place to build the former.
Ganguly said it is not just to reduce dependence on alpha sellers but also to ensure pricing parity, no discounting on latest products and build the brand considering Puma also operates 100 company-owned offline stores.
Brands like Bosch and BPL are contemplating listing their products directly or through an authorised partner, though they would continue selling through large sellers in these marketplaces. Eureka Forbes, too, wants to focus on sales through authorised partners in the marketplace.
Amazon-exclusive BPL’s COO Manmohan Ganesh said the company would set up its own seller ID so that it can continue business without disruption. “However, it will be used only on a need basis if current sellers cannot operate,” he said. Gunjan Srivastava, MD of BSH Household Appliances, which sells the Bosch and Siemens range of appliances in India, said the company is in touch with online partners and would decide the future course of action in consultation with them.
British premium household appliance maker Dyson has started direct sales from Amazon and plans to initiate a similar process with Flipkart from this year, an industry executive said. “Even some of the global smartphone brands are contemplating such a route considering some like Xiaomi and Vivo have already started direct sales to consumers from their own online brand stores,” he said.
The executives said the global brands now have the advantage of the latest single brand retail foreign direct investment (FDI) norms which allows them to sell directly to Indian consumers without any prior government approval.
While the marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart are returning to normalcy in phases after the disruption in sales, industry executives said there is fear that more curbs or stringent policies may come down on e-commerce operations in the country due to intense lobbying from offline retailers and traders with elections round the corner.
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