A flat for a phone! The offline vs online war is heating up

This festive season, buy a phone and you could get a car or even a flat as a prize. The only catch is, you need to buy the handset from a brick and mortar store. And not online.

Gift vouchers, gym memberships, free cosmetic laser treatments -- there are a lot of things that handset retailers are offering to woo prospective customers away from ecommerce platforms. In cities like Ahmedabad, retailers have pooled resources and tied up with salons and gyms.

In India, online and offline markets for handsets are almost on a par, with Covid-19 pushing more and more customers towards ecommerce websites. Retailers fear a third wave would skew the numbers further.

In the April-June quarter, the e-tail share of smartphone sales jumped to 51%. In 2019, the figure was only 37%.

Some handset retailers are now coming up with home deliveries within a few hours of your order. That is to beat the ecommerce channels at their own game. Plus, there is this lure of a lucky draw that might get you a car or a flat. Things are surely warming up for the festive season.