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The Net shopping
experience
Recently, a sale hosted by Baazee.com, one of India’s biggest online shopping sites, of music recorded by practically all big Indian and international companies, generated much interest. Other significant players in India are Rediff.com, Indiatimes, Fabmall, and Sify.com Why shop online Customers come to such Websites for a variety of reasons—primarily because they get good deals, especially bundled deals. Even during the process of researching for this article, the writer bought some music because it was available and inexpensive, especially when compared with what big stores in Chandigarh have to offer. The variety available online also far exceeded that in regular stores, which was another attraction, especially since a number of uncommon titles were available. One also had the convenience of shopping from home. What was convenient for the writer, however, was not convenient for Prerana, a Net-savvy colleague. She points out that for her the whole online shopping experience lacks something. Asserting that she is a careful shopper, she says that physically touching stuff, browsing in the traditional sense, gives her a kind of confidence. And this keeps her from reaching for her credit card to shop on the Net. The only attraction that she can find in online shopping is books. As for music, another passion, "if I walk down the aisle of a music store, I may see what I want, whereas if I knew what I wanted, I would consider the Net." However, she finds browsing on the Net tedious, since the pages don’t open on slow landline connections that most homes in India have. The growth in the past year has been exponential—as much as 150 per cent to 200 per cent in India. However, online shopping accounts for about 2 per cent of the retail economy in the US, whereas in India it is 0.1 per cent. Industry sources feel that big western players like Amazon or eBay should be in India within the next two years. The highest growth has been in small-ticket items, i.e., those that are priced below Rs 300. What sells well Inexpensive products move the most. In home and grooming utility products, the main items are: toolkits, knife sets, sewing machines, drilling machines, storage products, handy vacuum cleaners, shavers and hair dryers. Though many people like to have a feel of the fabric before buying it, what sells a lot are T-shirts, shirts, women’s tops, cargos, wallets, belts and key chains. Jewellery is also sold, but it sells only in auctions—rings and earrings are picked up most often. Standardised products where discounts are offered are readily bought by customers. They include movies, music, books and CD ROMs. Books sell well enough in relation to products sold offline, but not when compared with the sales in developed nations, even though shipping and handling charges in India are fairly low. Who buys According to Samarjeet Singh, a senior executive at Baazee.com, 85 per cent of the customers are male. Up to 34 per cent buyers are 18-24 years old and 31 per cent 25-30. More than 5 per cent of the customers are above the age of 51. Given better Internet awareness and connectivity in the metropolitan cities, it is hardly surprising that the top five metros account for 53 per cent of the shoppers. This profile also partially explains the movement of high-value products, including VCD players, FM radios, low-end home theatres, digital cameras, etc. However, many look up prices and browse on the Net, but go to a store for actual buying, as did a friend who bought a Bose Wave Radio. Even though it was for $ 290 on the Net, he preferred to buy it for Rs 36,000 from Chandigarh. "Because then I would have the local warranty," he says. How do you buy? Most of the Indian Websites give you various options to place the order. You can use credit cards, which is the most common, though drafts and even cash-on-delivery is accepted. The number of days taken to deliver the items depends on the mode of payment, as well as the city. Various Indian companies have their own flavours. Rediff, Indiatimes and Sify are portals and e-commerce is only one of their offerings. They have large traffic and they push their e-commerce offerings to these visitors. The depth and width in their product lines/seller base is somewhat limited. Rediff, Sify and Indiatimes started with clear focus on NRIs. "Send Gifts to India" was the first e-commerce category that such companies started with in 1997. Then followed "remit cash", "online pooja", "telecom cards" and more. Baazee.com and Fabmall are
pure e-commerce players in the Indian market but with distinct business
models. Fabmall is a tightly controlled business, which has all aspects
under its control. It focuses more on offline grocery. Baazee plays the role of a market maker by providing a platform for sellers to sell and buyers to buy. It offers fixed-price selling, auction selling and classified selling as three formats. Baazee auction sales, its USP, contribute 25 per cent of the orders and 40 per cent of the value of the sales. The online world is
opening up and customers have a new experience to look forward to, the
net shopping experience. |
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WHY
do people shop on the Net? To find bargains, of course. No matter what
they tell you, most of the people shop online to stretch their rupee. An
increasing number of Indians are taking to this mode of shopping and
they say that they are gainers.