Vendors selling on various e-marketplaces operated by Indian and global firms in the country have been voicing their concerns over various unethical ways adopted by the online retail platforms for long. Seller bodies like the All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA) have at regular intervals reached out to the policymakers seeking intervention in this matter that's been strangulating their business.
The assistance sought was mainly towards laying guidelines that protect sellers' business interests, particularly, from the pricing mechanism followed by e-marketplaces. While some of the recent changes in the policy are a welcome move, the guidelines still do not address the key concern related to deep discounting of goods by e-marketplace operators. They always got away by claiming to be a marketplace having no role in setting prices offered by their sellers.
The recent legal battle between Walmart-owned Flipkart and an Indian firm that sells wearable health devices under the brand GOQii could prove to be a major turning point though. That's because, it's not a small time seller/ trader but a company claiming to be the second largest player with 19% market share in the wearable devices segment, which is at the receiving end this time around.
A decision favouring GOQii in this fight will set a precedent and further strengthen small sellers. This will eventually force e-commerce firms to discontinue the deep-discounting strategy under the garb of a platform connecting buyers and sellers.