Smartphone makers to reduce workforce in stores

After urging the government to allow e-commerce players to deliver the smartphone to buyers, smartphone companies have taken a different step to control their losses. Smartphone companies are likely to reduce the employees at their stores.

The smartphone makers are doing this as there are no sales via offline channels, report Economic Times. According to the report, Xiaomi and some multi-brand retailers want their rents will be waived off for the next three months. In fact, there are reports that claim that smartphone makers are likely to reduce their spending on marketing this year in India.

The report states that brands like HMD and Motorola have started reducing the incentives and their promoters as sales are not coming from these stores due to the nationwide lockdown. However, the companies have not made any official announcement on the same.

But, HMD said, “There’s no doubt that the ongoing impact of COVID-19 is taking its toll on markets and like many businesses, this pandemic has impacted ours.” Adding to that, “As with the rest of the industry, we continue to observe and evaluate the situation given the COVID-19 pandemic.”

On the other hand, the reports said that both Lenovo and Motorola have discarded these rumors and said, “All salaries for our ISD’s, including incentives have been paid out in full as of March 2020. We are also committed to honoring their salaries for April’20 in full, irrespective of the business scenario and even without a day’s work if required.”

However, Motorola has postponed the sale of the Moto Razr until April 15, 2020, due to the lockdown. Earlier, the sale was supposed to be held on April 2, 2020. The company has also extended the warranty on its products including accessories that expires between March 15, 2020, to April 30, 2020. The warranty has been extended up to 75 days.

―Gizbot