one18

Stories

Online Shopping Slashes Festive Sales For Local Shopkeepers In Shimla
C
CNBC TV18•13-10-2026, 21:08
Online Shopping Slashes Festive Sales For Local Shopkeepers In Shimla
  • •Local shopkeepers in Shimla are experiencing a 20 to 40 percent drop in festive season sales compared to last year due to the rise of online shopping.
  • •Veopar Mandal Shimla President Harjit Kumar Monga stated that heavy discounts by online platforms and consumer preference for mobile shopping have severely impacted local businesses.
  • •Small retailers struggle to compete with large online companies that buy in bulk and offer massive discounts, while local merchants face heavy overhead costs like rent and employee salaries.
  • •Other challenges cited include inadequate parking facilities near markets and restrictions on displaying products outside shops.
  • •Shopkeepers remain hopeful that the trend will eventually reverse as some consumers return to physical stores after poor experiences with online product quality.
Read Full Article on CNBC TV18 in English

Key Questions Answered

Sales for local shopkeepers in Shimla have declined by 20% to 40% compared to last year due to the rise of online shopping and heavy discounts offered by e-commerce websites.

Local shopkeepers take limited stock because they are wary of heavy investment and have to pay overhead costs like rent, employee wages, and utilities, whereas large online companies buy in bulk and offer massive discounts.

Businesses face challenges such as inadequate parking facilities near main markets, restrictions on displaying products outside shops, threats of war and agitations, and consumers controlling their overspending.

Similar Stories

The compression in the journey poses an uncomfortable dilemma to electronics marketers. The same consumer now uses AI-driven search, looks through creator content, reviews, compares products on marketplaces and enters the multi-brand store all in the same week.

Electronics Brands Eye 15-20% Festive Growth as Customer Journey Shrinks to Days

S
Storyboard
The greeting card that once required a trip to a mall or neighbourhood store can now arrive at the doorstep in 10 minutes.

Archies Rewrites Nostalgia Playbook: From Greeting Cards to Quick Commerce and Global Expansion

S
Storyboard
62% of festive shoppers begin their journey within the final month, with 33% starting two to four weeks before the festival and another 21% beginning about a week before. Eight per cent start shopping less than a week before the festival.

Festive Spending Soars: 77% of Shoppers Boost Budgets as Buying Nears Season

S
Storyboard
Pratik Shetty, Vice President and Head of Growth & Marketing at Flipkart, believes the evolution of e-commerce has brought an old consumer behaviour back in a new form. Flipkart is responding by attempting to make the platform itself more discovery-led. Shetty says the company has been increasing the role of video within its app and scaling live commerce, with the broader objective of making the shopping environment more inspirational rather than purely transactional.

How the Creator Economy is Transforming E-Commerce Discovery

S
Storyboard
The findings show that 90% of Indians notice festive advertising on social media, while three in four discover products through app notifications. Seventy-five per cent of respondents said they pay attention to festive content on idle TV screens, 67% browse their phones while the television is on, and 68% allow festive content to play in the background on TV.

Festive 2026: 73% Shop Online as AI and Multi-Screen Discovery Reshape Purchase Paths

S
Storyboard
Shopping

Meta Reports Nine in Ten Festive Purchases Shaped by Its Platforms

S
Storyboard