No alternatives to cater to demands of “non-China” products, say Noida traders

Noida: Amid the India-China standoff and call for boycott of Chinese items, customers are specifically asking dealers about details of products and if there are

Noida: Amid the India-China standoff and call for boycott of Chinese items, customers are specifically asking dealers about details of products and if there are any alternatives. Traders, however, say alternatives are few.

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“A number of traders have been calling up since the last two days stating that customers are demanding products of Indian make. They are specifically checking whether the product they are buying is from China. If locally produced goods aren’t available, customers seek non-Chinese alternates. Traders want to sell local items but the issue is that there are very few alternatives,” Sushil Kumar Jain, president, Sector 18 market association and Delhi-NCR head of the Confederation of All India Traders Association.

Retailers, especially those dealing in electronics, pointed out that while the market is dominated by China-made products there is dearth of Indian brands or even those coming from other countries such as South Korea, US, Japan or European nations, which narrows down options.

“This is for the first time we have seen that customers are enquiring about the make of a product. We don’t have many alternatives available as the mobile phone segment is dominated by Chinese brands. There were very few customers who did not mind buying products of Chinese brands when they got to know that the product was manufactured in India,” said Rahul Gupta, who owns a mobile phone store in Sector 18.

He adds that while the market was already down due to the pandemic, these new consumer trends are further affecting business.

“Most customers are aware of brands. The issue is that the Indian alternatives are not competent enough and their production is low. The same problem persists with Japanese and Taiwanese brands. American brands, on the other hand, are very expensive” Gupta said.

Anita Singh, another trader, says she also incurred losses due to lack of affordable local alternatives.

“Customers are asking for non-Chinese brands, but the market is not ready as we don’t have too many Indian products in the market. Even gift wraps come from China. I lost business of around ₹36,000 on a single order on Thursday as the company wanted about 60 pieces of gift items of Indian make, which were not available,” said Singh, who owns a stationary store in Savitri market, Sector 18.

Some consumers, meanwhile, said they did not mind losing money over this. Dr Arvind Mishra, who lives in Noida, cancelled an SUV he had booked last year, of which he was awaiting delivery.

“I am exploring other alternatives, and no longer want to give business to China in anyway. The booking amount for the car was ₹50,000 of which the dealer might deduct some portion, but it’s okay,” he said.

At the nearby Atta market, traders say they are working on a future course of action. “We are going to have a meeting with traders soon about the future course of action,” said Dr CB Jha, head of the Atta Market, Noida.

Jain says such consumer behaviour does incur losses to traders who have already paid for their stocks. “As customers have started to ask for locally manufactured goods, we businessmen are also learning. For instance, for the upcoming festival of Raksha Bandhan, rakhis worth millions were imported from China every year, but with prevailing market current, traders will look for local alternatives,” he said.