Amazon Heat On Indian E-Tailers

A downturn in investor sentiment, new government norms and overseas rivals are forcing homegrown online retailers to seek newer ways to stay afloat.

- M.G. Arun

Last October, Flipkart ann­ounced its ‘Big Billion Days’ sales from the 13th to the 17th of the month, one of many in the home­bred online retailer’s nearly 10 years of exis­tence, during which it has sold hun­dreds of products at deep discounts. However, much to the company’s embarrassment, its app crashed, leaving many buyers red­faced. “Anything you click goes out of stock. Flipkart should stop this flop show,” tweeted Vicky Vohra, an aggrieved customer. E-­commerce giants like Flipkart will exercise caution in hold­ing such mega sales blitzes again, especially after the government in March prohibited e­-tailers from offer­ing big discounts on their platforms.

The government also capped total sales originating from a group comp­any or one vendor on an e­-commerce platform at 25 per cent. The norms came at a sobering time for India’s e-­commerce sector, with invest­ors holding back funds and even ‘established’ e-­tailers wall owing in losses. With tightening of norms on the one hand and a shrinking of buss­ness on the other, froth in the segment finally seems to be settling down.