Will Discounts Backfire on Blinkit, Swiggy, and Zepto Amid Festival Shopping Frenzy? - Read Here
Blinkit, Swiggy, and Zepto face scrutiny over their discount practices as local retailers demand an investigation. The festive season's shopping frenzy intensifies competition, raising concerns for small retailers.
Quick commerce players in India like Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart have won the hearts of urban consumers quickly with promises to deliver in just minutes at often cheaper prices than local shops. However, these companies will find the festive season a tough time as their discounting strategies come under the scanner.
All India Consumer Product Distributors Federation (AICPDF) had filed a complaint alleging that these quick-commerce companies, namely Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and Zepto, are luring in customers through predatory pricing, thereby chronic financial stress to local retailers. As reported, these companies have been offering hefty discounts that are quite alluring but are inflicting loot on the livelihood of neighborhood shopkeepers.
Market Disruption
Quick commerce companies are no only changing the way consumers consume but also change all-round habits of purchasing in India. Chalk-and-cheese groceries and electronic companies have been given a wake-up call by disrupting the competition with having a piece of the market cake for themselves as they have threatened e-giants, particularly Amazon and Flipkart, with record time delivery. With each product costing ₹90 when sold for ₹100 by local shops, an uneven playing field is created through undercutting prices and hence disrupting the market.
The Impact of the Festive Season
It is precisely in the midst of heavy holiday-season shopping that the AICPDF has called for an investigation into the nexus between quick commerce platforms and companies with consumer goods. Bricks-and-mortar retailers have almost begun their respective campaigns for the festive season, and local retailers feel further pressed on the back about this nexus. The federation, in its letter to the CCI, has appealed that traditional distributors and small retailers be saved as they have been an integral part of the supply chain for decades.
As the stakes are heating up, only time will tell how agile commerce firms are while reaching the bottom line even as they continue to attract consumers during this most crucial period of the year. Local retailers continue to demand fair practices as the CCI's investigation could redetermine the destiny of India's retail market landscape.
