Pune: Traditional brick-and-mortar businesses have noticed a great dip in sales over the years as customers are preferring to order their goods online.
Popatlal Ostwal, President of the Poona Merchant’s Chamber said, “The online business has already taken over half of our business. There has been a dip in 40 to 50 per cent in sales margin, which means yearly there is a difference of Rs 15,000 crore. Because the online business owners have huge manpower and give huge discounts on a variety of products, they get more business than us. We have noticed recently that businesses are shutting down as they are suffering huge losses. Almost 10 per cent of the traders are closing their shops every year, the main reason being increase in online shopping.”
“During the festive season too, people are not coming to the market to purchase festive decorative items. Online has given them the freedom to sit back and order from their mobile phones with attractive discounts and free home delivery, which some of the traders cannot afford. This is making our business go down each year,” Ostwal added.
During a spot visit to Pimpri market to check out the sales of Diwali decorations, traders expressed distress over the age-old business that they have been doing. Dinesh Chowdhary, trader of Diwali decorative items at Pimpri market, said, “We have been doing business here for the last 10 years. We have experienced downswing in our business for last four to five years. We are neither getting the expected crowd nor generating the expected income which we used to generate earlier.”
Deeplal Shah, another trader, said, “To attract customers we bought paper lanterns which have affordable price, but still we are not getting expected crowd. Online business has totally eaten away at our business.
“Some of the customers also do not come to the market due to growing traffic problems. And that is the reason they order online,” Shah added.
Amolakchand Chuttar, jaggery trader at Market Yard, said, “We have been facing this issue for a very long time. There is 40 per cent reduction in sales of jaggery, not only during festive season but also during usual days. The number of retailers has also gone down.”
