After making the most of the Online Retail market, Flipkart is all set to enter the offline sales market as well to spread its presence to the not so tech savvy users who would trust offline retailers more than the Online market or internet. Flipkart has paired up with Spice Hotspot and is starting an Assisted e-commerce model which is restricted to phones for now.
Flipkart will be showcasing their exclusive range of smartphones, the displayed items will be exclusive to Flipkart and not found on any other online or offline retailers. With this move Flipkart will be attracting users who want to feel the phone in their hands before buying one, which is not possible when purchasing any item online. To improve the customers shopping experience Flipkart and Spice Hotspot will be setting up exclusive experience zones in the stores to display Demo phones to help the buyer get live experience.
Commenting on the association, Rajiv Sethi, Chief Marketing Officer, Spice Retail, said “We are delighted to partner with Flipkart as an offline partner for their exclusive smartphone range. With our wide footprint across India and our well trained store staff, we are confident that we will add a lot of value to our customer’s shopping experience. This unique “online and offline synergy” will offer customers the best of both worlds – the convenience of online retail and the touch and feel in-store experience of offline retail.”
The user cannot buy phones from these stores but have the feel of the device and interact ith the staff to find out about the device and solve their queries. The trained staff will help the user in purchasing the device on Flipkart, where the device can be collected from the store or get it delivered to their homes.
Sandeep Karwa, Director Retail Flipkart, said, “This is targeted mainly at places where online shopping is still catching up. Customers in Tier-3 and Tier-4 towns have heard about online shopping but are still circumspect. This initiative will empower and ease customers from smaller cities to shop online. Overall, we foresee this becoming a big customer conversion tool for our smartphone category.”
This feature will be mainly useful in Tier-3 and Tier-4 towns where the online shopping is not that great with lack of delivery services, with this move Flipkart is spreading its wings across the country.
