NEW HURDLES FOR BIG E-TAIL

E-COMMERCE

-  M.G. Arun, Anilesh S. Mahajan

Unlike brick-and-mortar businesses that either perished or struggled to survive during this pandemic, e-commerce has flourished. The reasons are not hard to see: for essential goods, including groceries and fresh foods, and much else, e-tailers have became the default option for a large urban middle class. Their success, however, has come at a cost to traditional businesses in these areas, who will take heart from the new set of norms the Centre has proposed to ostensibly create a more “level playing field”. On June 21, the ministry of consumer affairs announced changes in the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020 and sought comments and suggestions from the public by July 6. According to the proposal, e-commerce companies will not be allowed to hold ‘flash sales’ in India. These refer to an online sale at greatly reduced prices, for a very short duration. When e-commerce platforms offer such sales, there is a spike in orders due to the discounts offered, sometimes up to 80 per cent. The government has clarified there is no blanket ban on flash sales, only on those that “limit customer choice, increase prices and prevent a level playing field”.