E-commerce channel allows Lenovo India to launch its products across the country on Day 1, Sudhin Mathur, Director (Smartphones), Lenovo India told Medianama at the launch of its latest mid-range Android smartphone Lenovo Vibe X2. The phone is a Flipkart exclusive and is priced at Rs 19,999. Mathur said that if they had gone offline, maybe consumers in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore would've been able to purchase the device but as they go towards tier-2, tier-3 and tier-4 towns, it takes time for a product to physically reach out to a retail outlet. He added that online platforms also allow companies to reach out to a very targeted audience which is already net savvy and understand what they want to buy. Besides this, e-commerce platforms allow users to actually compare products based on what's being offered at what prices due to their neutral nature and take an instant decision. "In an retail outlet, I think you can get swayed by the retailer’s preferences". However, online platforms does come with a disadvantage of lack of touch & feel. On Lenovo's consumer advisory: Interestingly, it's worth noting that Lenovo had issued a consumer advisory against e-commerce sites like Snapdeal and Amazon India earlier this year. Mathur said that the "advisory was never to say don't buy, but to alert consumers to check the authenticity of the product they are buying from these sites". He also added that this "doesn’t mean people who are genuinely purchasing from a genuine purchaser, the warranty will not be honoured. We have tracking of IMEI numbers and other mechanisms by which we can track products." Elaborating…
