Indiaplaza Tries ‘Double The Difference’ Promotion
Indiaplaza.in, formerly fabmall.com, is offering customers one of those ‘double the difference’ offers – they’ve launched the ‘Indiaplaza Price Challenge’ for books and mobile phones. Customers who find prices of a specific book or mobile handset cheaper elsewhere can claim gift vouchers from Indiaplaza for double the difference.
Seems to me that this initiative can three purposes: firstly, it’s promotion and could get new customers in to try the site out. Secondly, it maybe allows Indiaplaza to do a reality check on their pricing vis-a-vis the competition. Thirdly, it makes customers aware of their pricing and products. But at what cost?
I found a price difference for Orhan Pamuk’s My Name Is Red at Indiaplaza and Sify Mall, but…
-The challenge is not applicable to a different edition of the same title.
-The challenge is not applicable to a different binding/cover/format of the same title.
Also, even if I was eligible, the gift certificate would be for Rs.8.08. And gift certificates are non-combinable…
This Price Challenge is just an eye wash. The day I got a mailer…I spent just about 15 minutes to find at least 2 mobile sets…which were available at a cheaper price at Indiatimes.com. I informed Fabmall/Indiaplaza about the price difference (a diff of about INR 500/-). But in a few days I received a mail that they didn't find that Fabmall price was hiigher…& asked me to produce tax invoices. How rediculous. So I threw that mail on their face…& sent them the screenshot of the products …which was priced higher at Indiaplaza. They should be ashamed of themselves & take down such fake "Price Challenge".
The poor saga continues:
http://innindia.blogspot.com/2007/03/indiaplaza-price-challenge-fake-sage.html
I agree, they didnt even reply to my email about the Price Challenge regarding a book – so it's just an elaborate scheme to grab eyeballs. That being said – they have an annual book club membership for 500 bucks which is promising – you get 25% off on ALL books and you get a book worth 500 or less free.
The delivery against orders, quality of goods, customer service and response to issues on Indiaplaza are quite good. The range is somewhat limited but seems to be improving. Non-online customers can certainly give it a try. I have never used Amazon and therefore can't compare the two. I have also used my credit card several times in the last few years and have not had problems (so far!!).
The price challenge works well in respect of low to medium (upto ~ Rs. 500) price difference where the commitments are honoured as outlined in the scheme and usually in time. On higher values, there seems to be no response (hoping perhaps that you will forget about it)!!
However, the prices have not been reduced on the site in most cases, even after the entry has been processed. This is surprising.
I have seen some blog posts complaining about use, denominations etc. Come on guys, the rules are pretty clear! You can't seriously expect to be allowed to change the rules!!
I have several entries pending (regretfully, have exhausted further possibilities)!! Let's see what happens to those!
Hi,
I think the delivery of Indiaplaza is really slow. Nothing to write home about.They took more than 3 weeks to deliver a book to me. I dont think they can survive this.
The claim of Indiaplaza is unfair. They are not lowest priced but are getting undue publicity for the claim. Cheaper stores are strand, sifymall etc. for books. Many around the corner mobile stores are cheaper too. My uncle submitted several claims. He is a regular book buyer and knows what he is talking about. He tried to follow up but neither got a reply nor a gift certificate! The trick to such nefarious schemes, as I read in another blog entry, is to run it, get publicity and not pay up. They are counting on most people to treat it as a lottery and not follow-up. In the US market, they would have been hauled up in no time. But I guess in India we will put up with it just as we do with corrupt politicians, sloppy service and poor products.
The price challenge on Indiaplaza is only a publicity stunt. They are counting on the fact that people will generally believe that a company will not make such a public claim unless it were true. The fact is that books are not the cheapest and there are significant differences in hundreds of cases. And they keep such a scheme alive by a simple ruse – not paying up. They do not honour their commitments in most of the cases. A cousin has promised to send a list of over 100 books with large differences in price together with all details. I intend to post it on the net. Let us see whether they continue to run the scheme with no intention to pay up or withdraw the scheme.