First Nokia, then Samsung and now Airtel – Looks like it has become a trend for telecom brands to launch their own online shop.
Airtel today announced launch of its own online store that will feature range of products including Mobile handsets, digital TV and even broadband connections. Unlike Nokia and Samsung (which according to me are useless online stores), Airtel online store has multiple brands on its catalogue. It is not purely selling Airtel products and services. It is selling various brand mobile phones, but with Airtel services bundled along with it(?).
Airtel online shop has got one thing right – The prices which I saw are quite competitive unlike most other brand stores. For example: LG Optimus Sol E730 mobile phone which is listed on Airtel shop at Rs. 16,403/- is nearly 500 rupees lower than the listing price of Flipkart. Additionally, user are also entitled for free 3G usage for a month(?) on most of the phones that are being sold on Airtel shop. They are currently offering upto 33% off on mobile devices with exclusive airtel plans, Rs 500 cashback on new broadband connections and Rs. 250 cashback on new digitalTV connections.
Airtel has launched this online store in partnership with Buildabazaar.com, Infibeam’s SAAS ecommerce platform. Also, it clearly mentions on the site that “Mobile phone shall be made available and delivered by NSI Infinium Global Pvt. Ltd. Airtel doesn’t sell or deliver mobile phone. Order acceptance and delivery is subject to stock availability at NSI Infinium Global Pvt. Ltd.”
Essentially, apart from offering the Airtel brand, there is not much that they will be involved in.
Visit the Airtel Shop and let us know what you feel about this latest offering from Airtel!
[…] Airtel, who was first among the Indian Telecom Operators to launch a online shop, RCom’s offering is also based on the third party ecommerce platform. While Airtel utilized […]
E-commerce is really increasing now. Those cash-back offers are really helpful for people who can purchase online from the new airtel online shop. Surprisingly BSNL has also started giving 1% rebate on postpaid landline bills if paid online before due date. So the Government Run BSNL also knows the importance of E-commerce which is really helpful for customers like us. :-)