Online shopping in India
I am quite bullish on the prospects of online retailing in India. Though there are a lot of people who are pessimistic about the idea of online shopping in India, my only arguement for those guys is this: Could you have imagined a common man in India buying air tickets online 5 years ago? The plain answer would be no. So, inspite of all odds, online travel sites is a booming business in India.
Another justification I have for online shopping in India is this: The consumer market in India is booming like crazy. Its going through the roof. Of course, I don't have the numbers to support my justification, you just have to go to a mall on any day of the week to see the mad rush inside. There's hardly place to stand. Every shop is filled with shoppers or just lookers. Even if the number of lookers is far more than the number of shoppers, it won't be too long before they're converted to shoppers themselves.
Because this consumer market in India is booming, there is a sure shot room for different channels to get to the consumer. Today, everybody from the round-the-corner kiraana shop to the high profile store in the mall is doing business and getting more and more customers. I don't see why an online channel could be added to the already existing brick-and-mortar store channel. It could be a pleasant shift for consumers in India.
Just to support the statements I made in the previous paragraph, the idea is to execute well. Only those who execute well, survive and succeed. For example, the round-the-corner grocery store near my house has 3 guys who are always on the run as long as the store is open. You can order as little as a packet of bread and they'll deliver it to your home in the area.
The big stores in the mall enjoy a highly leveraged business. With the cash power, they have put up stores in the best malls around the country. They're doing well too. I repeat, its all about the execution.
In my next entry, I will write the three big things that need to be considered to have a successful online retailing business model in India.
Another justification I have for online shopping in India is this: The consumer market in India is booming like crazy. Its going through the roof. Of course, I don't have the numbers to support my justification, you just have to go to a mall on any day of the week to see the mad rush inside. There's hardly place to stand. Every shop is filled with shoppers or just lookers. Even if the number of lookers is far more than the number of shoppers, it won't be too long before they're converted to shoppers themselves.
Because this consumer market in India is booming, there is a sure shot room for different channels to get to the consumer. Today, everybody from the round-the-corner kiraana shop to the high profile store in the mall is doing business and getting more and more customers. I don't see why an online channel could be added to the already existing brick-and-mortar store channel. It could be a pleasant shift for consumers in India.
Just to support the statements I made in the previous paragraph, the idea is to execute well. Only those who execute well, survive and succeed. For example, the round-the-corner grocery store near my house has 3 guys who are always on the run as long as the store is open. You can order as little as a packet of bread and they'll deliver it to your home in the area.
The big stores in the mall enjoy a highly leveraged business. With the cash power, they have put up stores in the best malls around the country. They're doing well too. I repeat, its all about the execution.
In my next entry, I will write the three big things that need to be considered to have a successful online retailing business model in India.
Comments
It was great reading your blog about the prospects of Online Shopping in India. Its true that only the ones who execute well succeed! For instance earlier online retailers used deliver the orders within a weeks time. Today online portals like storrz.com provide 24 hrs delivery. Maybe in a year or two we would see them delivering the products within an hour or two. When that happens, online shopping portals would sky rocket!