Motorola has announced the end of its exclusivity with Flipkart and has gone on to reveal Brightstar India as its new distribution partner. So while the aforementioned online retailer will continue to sell the Moto series of phones, buyers will be able to purchase them from other vendors too. With the new deal in its pocket, Motorola will see its devices being sold through many more offline outlets and e-commerce websites.
Snapdeal for one, has started offering the 2014 Motorola Moto E 2nd gen in white and black color options. Its 3G version carries a price of Rs 5999, while its 4G variant can be bagged for Rs 6999. The latter model will be available through select Airtel stores across India too, for customers who want to get a feel of the handset before laying out the cash for it.
Another big retailer who has started listing Moto phones is Amazon India. It’s clear that Motorola is finding it hard to beat the competition in India considering the number of cheap Android options hitting the market on a weekly basis. Expanding the visibility of its products through multiple brick-and-mortar as well as e-commerce businesses is the new strategy it’s adopting.
Although sites like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon are enjoying massive growth in the country, there are still some people who won’t be satisfied with the online shopping experience. Additionally, tension is rising between physical and web-based vendors since the latter group has the advantage of lower overhead costs and can the pass benefit to customers in the form of discounts.
Google and its Android One partners discovered this the hard way in 2014. It’s possible that Motorola has started to attract the ire of offline stores in India too. Even if it hasn’t, ensuring its smartphones are available through a wider range of outlets makes sense in the long run.