Covid-19 Impact: Handset cos cut store hands

New Delhi: Handset companies in India have started reducing their retail store workforce, or in-store promoters, in the absence of sales during the ongoing nationwide lockdown, while Xiaomi and some large-format and multi-brand retailers have sought rent waivers for at least three months.

HMD Global and Lenovo-Motorola are reducing in-store promoters and cutting incentives for retailers, people familiar with the matter said. With no sales taking place, retailers are asking not to be billed for at least a quarter and they will not take fresh stock because they already have unsold inventory. “There’s no doubt that the ongoing impact of Covid-19 is taking its toll on markets and like many businesses, this pandemic has impacted ours,” a spokesperson for HMD Global, the maker of Nokia handsets, said in a statement, without commenting on layoffs.

The spokesperson said salaries for March were paid to all in-store promoters. Lenovo-Motorola said all salaries and incentives have been paid in full to its sales executives.


“We are also committed to honouring their salaries for April’20 in full, irrespective of the business scenario and even without a day’s work if required,” Lenovo-Motorola said in a statement. “Since costs are high for sales, brands will release promoters from stores,” Arvinder Khurana, president of the All India Mobile Retailers Association, told ET.