For eight straight days, household goods salesman Vipresh Shah has failed to sell a single pack of Dettol soap to the storekeepers who have been buying from him ever since he took over his family business as a teenager, 14 years ago.
Shah is an official distributor for Britain's Reckitt Benckiser in Vita, near Sangli city, around 320 kilometers south of Mumbai. But he said once-loyal customers now point to an app — JioMart Partner — on their smartphones showing prices up to 15% lower, instead of placing orders.
"As Reckitt's distributor, I used to be like a prince in the market," said Shah. "Now the buyer tells me, 'See how much you've been ripping us off!'"
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