MUMBAI: Kishore Biyani ’s Future Group , the nation’s largest retail chain, is getting ready to launch a fresh offensive against ecommerce rivals, with an advertisement campaign that will draw parallels between online buying and longdistance relationship.The campaign will comprises three new TV commercials that will take a dig at online companies. The ads will promote the Future Group’s electronics chain EZone, while likening online buying with a relationship where one can see the girlfriend but can’t feel or touch her.“There is a perception that online pricing is better compared to physical stores but it’s not the case anymore. We need to make consumers aware of this fact,” said Biyani, the group’s chief executive.“We are doing a lot of technology led innovation and have partnered Facebook for this initiative.”This is the second instance where the Future Group is engaging in comparative advertising against online rivals, which have been grabbing market share by discounting products. It comes just ahead of the peak Diwali sales and after the festival sale events by the big three online companies — Flipkart Amazon India and Snapdeal Flipkart said it sold 15.5 million units during its Big Billion Day sale, compared with 15 million announced by Amazon . Snapdeal said it sold more than 11million units during the Unbox Diwali Sale.Electronic products topped the sale. For instance, Amazon said its sale of mobile handsets grew fivefold, while that of large appliances rose seven times with television posting 25-fold growth.While marketplaces have been running heavy discounts on smartphones and posting record sales, brick-and-mortar cellphone stores haven't suffered any big dent this time, unlike in previous years. Several electronics brands reported the highest pickup of stock by offline retailers in the past six years, reflecting their expectation of good sales this year.Most brick-and-mortar retailers are also investing in omni-channel strategies and experimenting with global models like flash sales, such as putting a product on sale for 24 to 36 hours.The ad campaign is part of the Future Group's latest two-day event, Book Online Pay Offline or BOPO that will begin next week. Under this, consumers can book products at EZone’s online portal for Rs 1,000 and pay the remaining at its stores later. If a customer doesn’t like a product booked online, the money will be converted into a gift voucher that can be used for buying any other product.“It comes with an insight of our customer where they say ‘side mein rakh dena (keep on the side)’ when they are not sure about a product, but at the same time don’t want to let go the price-offer on the merchandise,” Biyani said. Earlier this year, Biyani, who has never made his disdain for ecommerce rivals a secret, launched a series of ads that use wordplay — Flip the Cart, Snap the Deal and Amaz-Off — to target the three top marketplaces.