Smartphones could become cheaper this festive season as brands seek to clear up inventories

Smartphone buyers could anticipate arduous discounts and several rounds of sales provided on both eCommerce and offline channels in the forthcoming festive season, market trackers and retailers said, as brands explore to pay off crushing inventories generated by fastening affectation and consequent lukewarm demand all over the world.

Smartphones could become cheaper this festive season

“The festive season in H2 2022 is anticipated to bring in some sheer discounts in the Indian market. Online discount sales have increased in Q2 2022, and we anticipate a modernized push to it in the forthcoming quarters,” said Rajeev Nair, senior analyst, Strategy Analytics which tracks customer market trends.

Brands will pursue to strap demand through the upcoming festive season to alleviate the earnings impact of the weak first half of the calendar year.

Abhilash Kumar, the telecom analyst, at Strategy Analytics, said that brands are also anticipated to launch profitable EMI options for phones sold from their own websites or offline stores. Big discounting could be one way to clear built-up funds.

Offline retailers ET spoke with confirmed there is a fund build-up, and smartphone brands have increased margins to offline retailers in June, backing the latest trend of reduced channel share in earnings, to clear funds. Bigger margins to retailers would allow them to provide discounts on products even in offline channels.

“Inventories have mounded, and the surplus has been increased to depot the products with offline retailers as online channels have lessened their supply input. So, the stocks adhered in the logistics pipeline are now being deflected to offline channels with bigger margins, and sometimes even with chargers for models that did not bag one initially,” said Arvinder Khurana, president of All India Mobile Retailers Association.

Chinese handset companies have also collected funds in their domestic market and have also been excruciating to sell in Eastern Europe. Samsung, which is the second-largest smartphone brand in India, allegedly adhered to 50 million units of unsold smartphones in distribution stocks all over the world. The company didn’t answer ET’s questions.