Brands to give in to malls demand for uniform discounts

Brands may finally give in to mall owners’ demand for uniform discounts across platforms. This is because mall owners were demanding a level playing field which involved uniform discount policy across online and offline platforms. It was being reported of

late that consumers were increasingly turning to e-commerce to grab deals and the absence of such deals at brick-and-mortar stores had led to a significant drop in footfalls and sales at malls and individual brand stores.

Malls

mandate, brands to follow

A rise in inflation and continuous impact of economic slowdown has tremendously affected consumer spending and they are visiting retail shops on lesser occasions. But at the same time a recent Assocham study had pointed out that they are increasingly giving preference to buying online owing to the discounts offered on brands.

This had led to malls mandating brands to stop offering discounts online and to keep the new season offerings or fresh stocks exclusive to brick-and-mortar stores. Sources claim that brands like Nike, Adidas, and Tommy Hilfiger have refrained themselves from selling their latest collections online. On the other hand, United Colors of Benetton (UCB) though believes that e-commerce is the driving force to the future, it does not offer discounts online.

Select City Walk mall in New Delhi had asked brands leasing space in the mall to give in writing that they will follow a uniform discounting strategy for digital and physical retail. And most of the malls including Phoenix Market City, Pune, Pacific Mall in Delhi and DLF Mall of India in Noida are all set to follow the strategy adopted by Select City Walk. Select City Walk also plans to launch its own e-shopping website around the time when the battle between e-commerce and physical retail continues to be in favour of the former. While the mall has decided to maintain the same pricing for online as well as in the stores, experts feel, this could work against it since apart from convenience factor, consumer are also shopping online due to lower prices.