the act of promoting a specific distribution channel through a cash incentive on products sold through traditional distribution is not good for the growth of the industry he said small traders and retailers will be significantly impacted from a promotion which is incentivising consumers to shop in a competing channel analysts said the episode reflected the intense competition not a new practice globally companies have long engaged in crosschannel promotions and ambush marketing consulting firm third eyesight chief executive devangshu dutta said such practices may not be unethical unless specified in the contract having said that offline retailers are fully within their rights to return the packs they take objection to he said finally smaller retailers which contribute the much bigger segment of sales may not be able to take a stand which the bigger organised ones are taking this is not the first time amazon and brickandmortar retailers have been engaged in a bitter battle over discounting and pricing strategies large ecommerce players which are known to burn cash to acquire customers have been frequently alleged to indulge in predatory pricing by offline retailers in the middle of last year the government had issued guidelines on marketplaces aimed at putting an end to deep discounts offered by online platforms a move that brickandmortar retailers said levelled the playing field while online penetration of food and grocery penetration is still less than 1 morgan stanley expects this to become the fastestgrowing online category expanding at a compounded annual growth rate of 141 by 2020 and contributing 15 billion or125 of overall retail sales by ratna bhushan chaitali chakravarty et bureau published on oct 9 2017 at 0731 am ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etretail app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app amazon ambush marketing dmart walmart ecommerce homenewsbig retailers like future group dmart cry foul over amazons ambush marketing