Online Buying in India: Brick and Mortar retailers have started venturing into Omni channel or E-retailing and are finding out ways to bridge the gap between offline and digital channels. E-com platform in India is on a rapid growth trajectory and is expected to reach 8% to 9% of total retail sales by FY25. The e-retail sector’s market size has tripled in the last 3 years (FY14-17) on rising internet penetration, increasing awareness of online shopping, and lucrative deals and discounts.
Market analysts said footwear as a segment has grown at a fast clip online, forcing traditional retailers to have a counter strategy to boost sales. The overall footwear market in India is said to be about Rs 30,000-35,000 crore.
However, after the initial phase where e-retailers focused only on gaining market share through discounts, the next phase will be majorly driven by consolidation of e-com players, geographical diversification, business realignment and working on customer stickiness.
Footwear was among one of the fastest growing categories online. The competition has also thus become more fierce for traditional players. While everyone is claiming leadership, it would be fair to say that they are neck and neck in the race so far.
Challenges faced by consumer buying online: Online shopping — that glorious invention which allows people to buy things from the comfort of their homes. The e-commerce boom has certainly changed the way we shop for the better. But, like everything else, the world of online shopping is not all roses. Despite all the efforts of e-commerce companies to alleviate them, there are a few problems that customers still have to face while shopping online. They are-
1. The right fit – One of the major issues in buying products online is being ensured or confident that what you are buying will fit you comfortably. Though there are 4-5 internationally recognized size conversion standards like UK, US, Euro, Korean and Japanese and these standards have the entire detail regarding the fit and their respective sizes, still it’s very tough to standardized the uniqueness of each and every human.
2. Delivery and Logistics- One predicament that constantly turns up while shopping online is when the order will be delivered. Products are often lost or damaged while in transit, and order tracking systems are unable to accurately locate the product. Delivery personnel often turn up at our homes when we're at work or out somewhere as there's no way to fix a particular time slot for the delivery to take place.
3. Product quality- The most common problem faced by customers in online shopping is that there is no guarantee of a product’s quality. With most e-commerce websites acting as aggregators for sellers to sell their products, more fraudulent sellers are registering on these websites and selling low-quality or faux products in the name of original and branded products.
4. Digital payment failures- Many consumers become victims to online payment issues. Even though there are several payment methods like Net Banking, Credit or Debit Card payments and even Cash-on-delivery, there are payment failures due to website’s server error, payment gateway error or issues with One Time Password (OTP). Technical glitches often deduct the payment from buyer’s account or card, but the website does not receive the payment.
5. No physical feel of the product- Humans are tactile beings and sensory experiences are a fundamental part of their shopping experience specially when buying shoes. Not being able to physically try out and touch a product is probably one of the biggest cons of online shopping. To make up for this disadvantage, online retailers have to go the extra mile and sell an experience, not just a product.
6. Hidden costs- E-commerce marketplaces often charge hidden costs after the purchase is finalized by the consumer. The amount you pay for the product will not be same as the one you see at the website. Price of the product will be displayed on the website without tax, shipping, and handling charges. When you make the payments, all these charges will be added and the price goes up.
Conclusion: We believe India’s e-com platform is likely to follow the U.S. e-com growth story in the long run given the increasing internet penetration in the country and increased usage of smart phones. Also, given the introduction of low priced internet data plans via the entry of Reliance Jio is further likely to drive the growth for internet penetration in India and resulting increased penetration of smart phones among the India population.
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