Jun Taki

In today’s age of consumerism, the advent of e-commerce and online shopping has become an outlet for people seeking ‘retail therapy’ especially in far-flung places like Arunachal where consumers have to make do with the little choice on offer.

Armed with smart phones, now the average Arunachalee shopper has become indeed smart—with their choices as well as raking up the big discounts. Therefore, it comes as no surprise when Amazon.in reported in 2017 that the e-tailer has witnessed a sharp spike in sales in the North East, especially in Arunachal Pradesh.

While shoppers are having a ball, retailers and franchisees in Itanagar are feeling the pinch of heightened competition from the once ignored, but now rapidly growing online shopping business.

That’s the case with stores like “REBOOK, LOTTO, CONVERSE and SPORTS STATION -few multi store outlets located near civil secretariat along with few electronics stores in Ganga. In order to survive these stores are desperately trying to adapt to the changes by offering maximum 50% off to minimum 10% percent added with attractive gift vouchers or launching promotions and season sales.

 Sales Manager, , LOTTO, Anup Dewam confirms they are losing about 30-40 percent customers to online shopping and observed  significant decrease in revenue in last two years. in a similar way small shops and stores once lost their revenue to them.

“Definitely, online shopping has affected us. The numbers are not yet huge but obviously it is growing very fast,” said Dhan Ravidas, Sales Manager, SPORT STATION, a multi brand store.  However he maintained that “it would take a long time before e-commerce goes full blast in Arunachal.”

The duo also pointed that the elderly people still shopped at the stores but there is significant decrease in visitors especially youngsters.

But, the worst affected seems to be the REBOOK showroom, which was once frequented by the well-heeled. B Basar, sales in-charge says that the last two years have been the toughest period for their business.

However, Suraj Sinha care taker, CONVERSE says that online shopping has not affected the store and quips that goods with attractive discounts in online stores while entirely not fake is the ‘first copy’ which people mistake for the original.

That’s a point to ponder but regular shoppers are not too bothered and are hooked to the ubiquitous discounts and delivery convenience of online shopping.

As per survey conducted by this daily, females outspend males in every age group between 17-34 generally  in apparels about 70 percent, 40-50 per cent in cosmetics, and 30 per cent on mobile phones. While Men especially youths in between 20 -40 years ruled in purchasing smart phones including other electronic accessories, clothes and shoes.

The top three towns in this league included Itanagar-Naharlagun, Pasighat , but Tawang, Bomdila, Roing and Aalo are also not very far behind as per data collected from various delivery centers in the state capital.

While mobile wallets and net banking transactions are on the rise, when it comes to making online purchases, most of the cash savvy Itanagarians still prefer Cash-on-Delivery payment mode with “return policy” applied to avoid “online fraud”.

“It was the (CoD) Cash on Delivery service that made online shopping exceptionally popular among the masses”, informed Nyato Doni, sales In-charge, E-COM -courier centre.

BLUEDART & DELHIVERY,  Manager, Raggia Tam  pointed out that to take online shopping to  next level there are still things that need to be improved  as delivery of items still takes days to reach the capital because of non availability of permanent carrier  to bring items like fragile electronic items like  TVs, refrigerators etc.

He cited other obstacles like slow internet connectivity, lack of awareness, proper transportation facilities etc which are slowing down the growth of E-commerce in other districts. He however was optimistic of covering Roing,Tawang, Bomdila, Tawang, Aalo under its umbrella very soon.

“We don’t even need a laptop, just a smartphone  to find products at the cheapest prices from any location without worrying about entering a retail outlet,” said Caleb Eko.

While, James Taying, another regular online shopper cited advantages like discounts, home delivery and EMI options etc as appealing about online shopping. “Negative is that, quality cannot be guaranteed. If it is a dress or shoes mostly you can't guarantee them. Also when you buy a mobile phone you may receive soap or a stone in it, Taying says.

Well said but that ain’t proving a deterrent either for the shopaholic Arunachaleese.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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