There is one big news for the “Flagship killer” of the smartphone industry. Moving forward, OnePlus smartphones, tablets, and wearables will not be available in 4,500 stores across 23 retail chains in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Gujarat.
South Indian Retailers Association Raises Concerns, Halts OnePlus Product Sales
Due to unresolved issues regarding narrow profit margins, delays in claim processing as well as bundling, these stores have decided to do away with the sales of these products from May 1.
In the April 10 letter to OnePlus India’s director of sales, Ranjeet Singh, the president of South Indian Organised Retailers Association (ORA), Sridhar TS wrote that “Throughout the past year, we have encountered significant obstacles associated with selling OnePlus products, which remain unresolved. As esteemed partners, we had hoped for a more fruitful collaboration with OnePlus. Regrettably, the ongoing issues have left us with no alternative but to discontinue the sale of your products in our stores”.
He further added that the association has decided to halt the retail of OnePlus products in their establishments from 1st day of May, 2024.
The association consists of 23 members which includes the likes of Poorvika, Sangeetha, Big C, and Pooja in the Southern and Western regions.
Concerns which Drove the Discontinuance of Sale
In the letter to the company, the association of retailers pointed out how sustaining the business has become difficult, given the low-profit margins and rising operational and financial costs.
The further pointed the rising dissatisfaction of customers due to delayed and complicated processing warranty and service claims and despite retailers’ best efforts to escalate and resolve these, all has been in vain.
The president of association highlighted that “We have experienced instances where we are compelled to bundle products or services with OnePlus devices, limiting our flexibility and hindering our ability to cater to diverse customer needs. Consequently, this has resulted in stagnant inventory and loss of sales,” Sridhar said.
As per the retailers, the model-specific bundling requirements are further forcing them to carry non-moving products, adversely affecting our already slim margins and posing unsustainable losses for our businesses.
He added how the association came to a conclusion of halting the products’ sale by adding “Despite our persistent efforts to address these concerns with your company, little progress or resolution has been achieved. Promises made have not been fulfilled, leaving us with no recourse but to take this drastic measure”.
In the month of February Navneet Pathak, National Joint General Secretary at AIMRA, said that “A significant portion of products in the market continues to be channelled through e-commerce platforms, accompanied by exclusive offers, sidelining mainline channels”.
What is to be seen now is how this impacts OnePlus and how it responds, until then….
