My exposure to online shopping is directly proportional to the Flipkart growth story, apart from few cake deliveries I make through Indiatimes in pre-flipkart days. It is not an overstatement to say that Flipkart ushered online shopping in India. They bought many customers to this online market, and pulled almost as many sellers to this space.
But we have already reached a stage which in my opinion is equivalent of Indian street market's online avatar. Too many sellers, same product at each shop, everyone shouting about best deals at top of their voices, but failing in product delivery and miserably in quality.
Such a market place result in inefficiencies, both for the buyer and the seller. Price and product discovery is a challenge in Indian online market. A buyer has to visit a number of sites to be able to make an informed purchase decision.
This is what i found, quite unexpectedly, just before I was about the purchase the book from Flipkart.
I changed my decision in a second. I ordered from homeshop, and though it took 5 days for delivery instead of the usual 2 in case of Flipkart, the "baniya" in me is very happy.
The online shopping portals are predominantly competing on lower prices, undercutting competition and in turn putting their own future at risk.
This model, as everyone knows, is unsustainable. But then what would work as a valuable, sustainable differentiator for an e-retailer?
Many people embraced online shopping under the persuasive power of Flipkart's triple benefit value proposition of
Flipkart still has a brand equity which keeps it ahead of its peers. but in the end the advantage just boils down to service. The complain resolution and the firm's attitude towards customer service will define their success and failure in the long term. An e-retailer who considers himself as a service provider and strives to build a relationship with the customer will have a greater chance at success than a retailer who aims to sell products in a one-off interaction.
But we have already reached a stage which in my opinion is equivalent of Indian street market's online avatar. Too many sellers, same product at each shop, everyone shouting about best deals at top of their voices, but failing in product delivery and miserably in quality.
Such a market place result in inefficiencies, both for the buyer and the seller. Price and product discovery is a challenge in Indian online market. A buyer has to visit a number of sites to be able to make an informed purchase decision.
This is what i found, quite unexpectedly, just before I was about the purchase the book from Flipkart.
I changed my decision in a second. I ordered from homeshop, and though it took 5 days for delivery instead of the usual 2 in case of Flipkart, the "baniya" in me is very happy.
The online shopping portals are predominantly competing on lower prices, undercutting competition and in turn putting their own future at risk.
This model, as everyone knows, is unsustainable. But then what would work as a valuable, sustainable differentiator for an e-retailer?
Many people embraced online shopping under the persuasive power of Flipkart's triple benefit value proposition of
- Low prices
- Reliable delivery
- COD payment option.
Flipkart still has a brand equity which keeps it ahead of its peers. but in the end the advantage just boils down to service. The complain resolution and the firm's attitude towards customer service will define their success and failure in the long term. An e-retailer who considers himself as a service provider and strives to build a relationship with the customer will have a greater chance at success than a retailer who aims to sell products in a one-off interaction.
