IdeaBeam is one of the mobile phone business influential websites in Sri Lanka. This multi-vendor eCommerce-alike platform mainly serve users to get price comparison on smartphones and other electronic gadgets such as tabs, etc. It has a price showcase for other electronic items, household stuff, etc. The IdeaBeam also contributes to updating gold price in Sri Lanka. Even though, its popularity relies on phone price in Sri Lanka.
Phone Brands
As of March 30, 2021, the site lists over 30 mobile phone brands under “All Mobile Phone Brands in Sri Lanka”. The list of brands are as follows:
- Apple
- ASUS
- BlackBerry
- Cat
- Dialog
- E-tel
- Energizer
- Forme
- Google
- Greentel
- HTC
- Huawei
- Infinix
- Intex
- Lava
- Lenovo
- LG
- Meizu
- Micromax
- Microsoft
- Motorola
- Nokia
- OnePlus
- Oppo
- Panasonic
- realme
- Samsung
- Sony
- Vivo
- Xiaomi
- Zigo
- ZTE
The fact is that many of them are archives and “out of stock”. We never heard of some of the brand names.
Phone Stores / Phone shops
The site lists about 28 phone shops under “All Mobile Phone Stores in Sri Lanka”. The list is given below (as of March 30, 2021):
- BuyAbans
- Celltronics
- Chinthana GSM
- daraz.lk
- Dealz Woot
- Dialog
- Doctor Mobile
- emart
- Etisalat
- Greenware
- iDealz Lanka
- iStore
- Kapruka
- laabai.lk
- Metropolitan
- Mobitel
- MyStore.lk
- Present Solution
- Selfie Mobile
- SellTell
- Senadheera
- Singer
- Singhagiri
- Smart Mobile
- Takas.lk
- Trident Corporation
- Wow Mall
- Xmobile
Does “All Mobile Phone Stores in Sri Lanka” fall just only 28? The fact is that there are a few thousand shops in Sri Lanka. Colombo Liberty Plaza shopping mall hosts more than 50 shops! When it comes to counting other shopping complexes and other phone shops in Colombo city and suburbs, the number would dramatically increase, and damn sure the two-digit figure would surplus by thousands. Hereby, we can conclude that about 10 to 20 vendors aka phone stores hold the position in IdeaBeam? When it comes to checking a particular phone, you can see not all stores put their price, and some stores update is not recorded in recent price update. There are a few big questions. Does IdeaBeam only allow a small number of vendors? Will it open to other shops? As far as we heard, IdeaBeam limits stall numbers, and it does not allow other mobile shops. It charges about Rs. 15,000 to 120,000. The big guy gets first place with some features such as Company warranty, 1 Year Company Warranty, 1 Year Softlogic Warranty, 1 Year Agent Warranty, etc, and a poor guy should go to the last bench!
Do you know some popular phone shops such as Dialcom, Genius Mobile, Life Mobile, Techmart and others are not on the list?
Does the phone price in IdeaBeam correct?
The answer is NO! Why? Check out the following table (copied from IdeaBeam).
Compare Apple iPhone 11 128GB Prices in Sri Lanka - An example:
 |
| Why does iDealz get highlight? What does it mean? |
|
Phone Shop
|
Price
|
Variation
|
|
Greenware
|
Rs. 159,500
|
-
|
|
Selfie
|
Rs. 159,600
|
100.00
|
|
Present Solution
|
Rs. 162,900
|
3400.00
|
|
iStore
|
Rs. 164,500
|
5000.00
|
|
Doctor Mobile
|
Rs. 165,000
|
5500.00
|
|
idealz Lanka
|
Rs. 166,000
|
6500.00
|
When checking the official website, Facebook, and other sources, the price was different. See the table below:
|
Phone Shop
|
Source
|
Price
|
|
Greenware
|
Website
|
Rs. 163,990.00 |
|
Selfie
|
Call
|
Rs. 163,000.00 |
|
Present Solution
|
ikman
|
Rs. 164,000.00
|
|
iStore
|
Facebook
|
Rs. 162,990.00
|
|
Doctor Mobile
|
Website
|
Rs. 164,990.00
|
|
idealz Lanka
|
Website
|
Rs. 177,990.00
|
Differentiation between IdeaBeam and official sources are given below:
|
Phone Shop
|
Price (ideaBeam)
|
Price (owner)
|
Variation
|
|
Greenware
|
Rs. 159,500
|
Rs. 163,990.00 |
4,490
|
|
Selfie
|
Rs. 159,600
|
Rs. 163,000.00 |
3,400
|
|
Present Solution
|
Rs. 162,900
|
Rs. 164,000.00
|
1,100
|
|
iStore
|
Rs. 164,500
|
Rs. 162,990.00
|
-1,510
|
|
Doctor Mobile
|
Rs. 165,000
|
Rs. 164,990.00
|
-10
|
|
iDealz Lanka
|
Rs. 166,000
|
Rs. 177,990.00
|
11,990
|
Present Solution reduces about Rs. 1,000.00 from the IdeaBeam's price list while Greenware and iDealz increase about Rs. 4,000.00 to 11,000.00. Which is right? They would justify that it has Apple Care warranty, orange care warranty, etc? But it is a bait technique to attract customer? If you want to buy Apple iPhone 11 128GB, will you choose IdeaBeam or official price from shop owners' sources such as website, social media, direct call, etc?
A few stores are marked as they acknowledge “Authority and Indemnity”. But, there is big differentiation in prices in both sources. Is it false acknowledgement? Also. many shops are not acknowledged as “Authority and Indemnity”. If you click a product, you can see a silent note under each product, and it says IdeaBeam.Com is not responsible for the goods sold by any of the sellers above. Ultimately, no one is ready to take responsibility!
So, what is the role of IdeaBeam?
Do not blame technical / typo errors or update issues. If IdeaBeam or owners’ websites or other sources are not up to date, the particular source is not correct or a bunch of lies! Sadly, there is no accurate source for finding phone prices in Sri Lanka.
Conclusion
- All Mobile Phone Brands in Sri Lanka are not right, but some of and latest phones.
- All Mobile Phone Stores in Sri Lanka are not correct. A few and selected phone stores in Sri Lanka are correct.
- There is favoritism to a few shops.
- No one is responsible for the price. Therefore, the price is not correct.
- It is price bait, not real update.
“If you are not taking care of your customer, your competitor will.” – Bob Hooey
Note: This article is written by a blogger who did an analysis and collect information from particular parties’ sources & interviewed shop owners who are part of IdeaBeam as well as declined shop owners.
