OnePlus's brick and mortar retail presence plans hit a bump; OnePlus phones spotted in grey markets

Consumer electronics company OnePlus’s plans to expand its brick and mortar retail presence has hit a roadblock. Mobile phone retailers have spotted the presence of OnePlus phones in grey market areas. They have delayed settlement claims by over six months where they have pinned the reason over the absence of standard operating procedures in retail.

Due to a lag in margins, negligible in-store promoters, delayed supplies and very small on-ground team, retailers have questioned the feasibility of the company’s expansion strategies.

Ranjeet Singh, director - sales, OnePlus explained to the retailers association that OnePlus analyses the demand of the products and strives to provide balancing opportunities to the buyers, stated ET report. Singh assured that OnePlus engaged only with those retailers who were trusted and authorised.

After OnePlus merged with its parent brand Oppo, the company had committed to investing Rs 100 crores for expanding offline. As per the retailers, OnePlus continues to maintain a team of 400 across India to look at the expansion project. This is in sharp contrast to the 2000 employees who are handling offline retail operations for other online-centric smartphone brands in India.

As per Naveen Pathak, general secretary, AIMRA, mentioned that the small teams are often unable to service the regions where the retailers are stuck with delayed settlements for over six months.

He also added that retailers have to pay in advance to arrange stocks from distributors which would take three to seven days for supplies to be delivered.

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