Is it stock shortage or nexus between sellers, distributors?
NEW DELHI: If you were in queue to lay your hands on the latest iPhone 7 on Friday evening and had to walk out of the store without one (especially the Jet Black or the Matte Black variant), then you are not the only one.
The launch of the smartphone in India was marred by controversy with ‘disgruntled’ consumers and retailers complaining that the company had failed to provide enough units for Indian consumers and this led to the black colour variants of the phone being sold at a premium of up to `50,000 premium on the grey market.
“There was a shortage of Apple products for the launch this time and I had to cancel several preoders for customers who only wanted the black colour variants,” a retailer, who didn’t want to be identified, told HT adding that “the demand for the Jet Black edition of iPhone 7 and 7 Plus is really high. While people are asking for only Jet Black option, Apple is only capable of sharing very few units and the ratio of orders and units received is 100:1.”
He also claimed that the “grey market was holding onto the stock for today’s sale and from the morning has started selling the products at a premium of `10,000 to `40,000.”
This is not the first instance where the company has failed to meet the demand. Days after the global launch of the iPhone 7 Plus, the company had said in a statement that supplies of the model in all shades were exhausted and that the smaller iPhone 7 had sold out in the jet black colour.
Customers are already unable to buy from Apple stores, but they are continuing to place orders
RETAILERS ARE ALLEGING CORRUPTION IN THE ALLOCATION OF UNITS IN INDIA, SAYING A LOT OF UNITS WENT ON THE GREY MARKET
online, it said. “We sincerely appreciate our customers’ patience as we work hard to get the new iPhone into the hands of everyone who wants one as quickly as possible,” Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller had said in a statement.
However, India seems to be a different ball game as retailers are alleging corruption in the allocation process on units. “A lot of products were deliberately moved to the grey market to reap more profits by creating a false demand while customers had to go back without being able to buy the phone of their choice,” another retailer told HT claiming that cops were called in the GK-1 store because of the crowd. The launch also saw crowds at the Cyber Hub, DLF Promenade and Connaught Place outlets.
Another retailer, under the condition of anonymity, also claimed that a Nehru Place outlet that had planned to time its opening with the launch had to postpone the opening due to unavailability of units. “Another shop was forced open by the company as they were provided two units just for formality,” he alleged.
But experts believe that the scarcity might not be deliberate. “Apple might have changed its strategy to try and sell more of its products in tier-2 and tier-3 cities,” an analyst said.
However, retailers also have a theory to counter the logic. “As far as we know Apple had asked for 1.25 lakh units in India and out of which nearly 70,000 made it. And only 10,000 units were shared with big Apple partners, so what happened to the rest? Did all of them go to the online partner?” one of the retailers questioned. He also said that the Cupertinoheadquartered giant plans to sell 5 lakh units in the first 15 days after the launch. Apple declined to comment.