Ludhiana partners helpless over Flipkart threat

The Ludhiana chapter of Association of Computer Entrepreneurs (ACE) Punjab discussed on various points and issues plaguing the channel community. At the sidelines of a conference organized by The DQ Week held in Ludhiana, partners mentioned their major problem: threats from e-commerce industries.

The first being the ongoing and seemingly eternal threat from e-commerce industries like Flipkart. Naveen Verma, CEO , BAMA Infotech while presenting their cause on this event, said that the partners have become hopeless as there seems to be no solution.

Verma mentions that the online prices are cheaper than their landing price. He adds, "So if a Lenovo Tab is built up at Rs 7,800, customers get it at Rs 6,000. This is same with laptops, accessories, external hard drives. "

When asked what the way forward is, he mentioned that they are regularly in touch with vendors and companies like Lenovo and Dell had even written on its website that Flipkart is not its partner.

However, the customers are unaware that the product is genuine or not. Other partners mentioned that the next option remains is to buy from Flipkart and resell to channels.

Paramjeet Singh Juneja, owner, Secant Technologies mentioned that if channel buys from e-commerce companies it may be suicidal for them. He cited examples of a company, based in Jalandhar, who started its own online company and asked the partners to form a dealer network.

However, other partners did not agree with him and said that the companies like Flipkart absorb huge cost, which may not be possible for them.