Shimla, Oct 13 The online shopping trend and the younger generation’s inclination toward it are taking a toll on the business of local shopkeepers in Shimla during the ongoing festive season.
The festive season has started, but sales are down compared to last year because people are shopping online.
Heavy discounts offered by online sites have hit commodity sales in the city, with sales declining 20-40 per cent compared to last year, said President Veopar Mandal Shimla Harjit Kumar Monga.
However, shopkeepers are hopeful of good business as the season has just started, he added.
The situation is improving after a 3-4 month slump in the market, but sales during the festive season so far are still lower compared to the previous year, he told PTI on Tuesday.
Big companies buy products in bulk while small shopkeepers take limited stock and therefore cannot compete with large online companies. Moreover, people are comfortable shopping from their mobile phones at home rather than visiting stores in the market, he said.
This trend of online shopping will reverse because the quality of supplied products is often poor, and people who have bad online experiences are returning to physical shops, he maintained.
Local shopkeepers are wary of heavy investment. Besides online sales, the threat of war and agitations also looms large, and customers are also buying what is necessary, and overspending is being controlled, said another businessman, Amit Thakur.
A large number of customers visit shops only for window shopping to see models and then order online. Inadequate parking facilities near the main markets are also a problem, said another shopkeeper.
Shopkeepers are not allowed to display their products outside their shops in the city while the big online companies are advertising their products 24×7, said former president of Veopar Mandal Inderjeet Singh, and urged the administration to allow shopkeepers to display their stock during the festive season.
“We have to pay overhead expenditures on employees, rent, and payment of electricity, water and other maintenance charges and cannot match the huge discounts offered by online shopping sites which are attracting the customers,” the shop owners rued.
There were about 6,000 business enterprises in Shimla providing employment to more than 12,000 persons, out of which about 3,000 are in the main city.
(PTI News)
