Cyber-War With Amazon, Flipkart: Offline Retailers Resort To Fake Orders, Blacklisting Cities!

This incident will go down as the first act of ‘cyber war’ against ecommerce portals, by offline traders.

In a daring decision, offline shop owners in a city in Maharashtra decided to bombard Amazon India with fake orders, and the intention was that, due to this, Amazon and Flipkart will blacklist entire city!

No, this couldn’t happen, but the intentions clearly tell a very strong story: Offline retailers hate ecommerce, and they can do anything to stop them.

The Illegal Plan Of Ulhasnagar Offline Shopowners

On Monday, as the secod round of festive sales from Amazon and Flipkart were about to be announced, offline shopowners from Ulhasnagar in Maharashtra met, and decided something siniste.

They decided that they all place fake orders on Amazon, and then refuse to accept the product. This way, they can convince Amazon to blacklist not only some selected areas from Ulhasnagar, but entire city.

An unnamed shopowner said that the same strategy would be soon employed by shopkeepers from Thane and Mumbai as well.

Offline Shopkeepers Worry About Declining Sales

Sujeetsingh Valecha, president of Mobile Bazaar Market in Ulhasnagar, and Rishi Kamria, a member of the All India Mobile Retailers’ Association have complained that the rising influence of online sales have impacted their bottomline.

As per them, if the ‘trend of online shopping’ continues, then they may have to shut down their shops.

By saying this, have they justified the illegal act of initiating fake orders to blacklist entire city?

Offline Sales Hit Rockbottom This Diwali-Dusshera Season

The offline traders of Ulhasnagar, by resorting to illegal tactics of fake orders have taken an extreme step.

And their worries are not completely illogical.

As per current numbers coming in, offline phone retailers are worst impacted due to the online shopping festivals of Amazon and Flipkart.

Subhasish Mohanty, chairman of cellphone retailer Spice HotSpot said, “We haven’t experienced this kind of impact before. Footfalls are still down because consumers are expecting more online discounts for Diwali or have already completed their festive shopping,”

Not only SpieHot, but others too have felt the pinch.

Sangeetha Mobile, HotSpot, Vijay Sales, Great Eastern, Happi Mobiles, Big C, Kohinoor, and the All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA) which represents 25,000 offline phone retailers have informed that they are experiencing 25-30% less sales this year.

As per them, Amazon and Flipkart are offering massive discounts which they cant match, and in some cases, they are selling the smartphones less than the MRP, which makes it almost impossible to match the price.\

As per AIMRA president Arvinder Khurana, some shops in Mumbai and Delhi experienced 50-55% less sales, and some shops couldnt even sell a single mobile.

Sales of TV, fridges, ACs etc have also impacted, but not the same way as phones.

Do you think that the tactics employed by offline sellers at Ulhasnagar was fair? Do let us know by commenting right here!