OnePlus smartphones and other products will stop selling in offline markets starting May 1, 2024. Retailers in multiple parts of India have complained of low-profit margins on OnePlus products. This includes some big retail chains like Poorvika Mobiles, Sangeetha Mobiles, and many others across India.
OnePlus Losing Offline Market?
According to Moneycontrol, the South Indian Organized Retailers Association (ORA) wrote a letter to Ranjeet Singh, OnePlus India’s Director of Sales, highlighting the problems faced by store owners in selling OnePlus products. The letter dated April 10 mentions that there are multiple unresolved obstacles in their collaboration with OnePlus in retail sales.
It further adds that customers have faced several delays in warranty claims, and OnePlus did not respond adequately when retailers escalated such issues. This resulted in customer dissatisfaction, eventually leading to poor sales and a stagnant unsold inventory of OnePlus products.
Due to these collective problems, the ORA has painfully decided to halt the retail sale of all OnePlus products starting May 1, 2024. This decision will apply to over 4500 retail stores across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Mahasrhatra, and Gujarat. Customers in these regions will not be able to purchase OnePlus smartphones in offline retail stores.
The letter from the ORA to OnePlus India has not been made public yet. Moneycontrol confirms that they have seen a copy of the letter, citing it as genuine. We reached out to OnePlus for a comment and are awaiting a response.
At a time when companies are focusing on offline sales in India to cater to a maximum number of customers, retailers pulling out from selling OnePlus smartphones is a big blow for the company. The importance of offline smartphone sales in India can be understood from the fact that Apple last year set up two new offline stores in Mumbai and Delhi. Since their inauguration, both stores have consistently clocked sales worth Rs 22-25 crores each month.
