Tag: ecommerce in india

eCom: let me Grow

There’s been a lot of discussion about eCom and its growth in India. One thing that is being made apparent, a company with deep pockets will survive to live on.

Growth is a natural evolving process and it will happen – willingly or unwillingly. The kind of growth that we are propelling in eCom is forceful. That to me is a rape.

As long as the intent of your business is right, you don’t have to worry about offering free shipping or get in to the discounting game to a level where you start bleeding.

Why is a customer willing to pay irctc.co.in or bookmyshow.com an additional charge under ‘convenience?’ That’s the positioning the eCom companies should look at – ‘all about convenience.’

Side Note: US for all its logistics and infrastructure brilliance and a market that is eCom friendly seems to be more sensible in its approach to growth. When we ape the west, I wonder why we don’t ape the best part of it.

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Built to Complexity

If you’ve ever said ‘Why do we need a complex procedure for such a simple task/job,’ then you are not alone. Lets look at some common issues that we are confronted with in our daily lives.

What process/procedure do you want to come up with to keep your customers happy?
Operations Head: We have a state of art technology built in to our IVR to help the customer get the right solution to their problems/issues?
General Reaction: It takes forever to talk to someone who is human.

Why is your website facing issues?
Technology Head: We ensure that everything that is pushed on to the live server is thoroughly tested. We follow a set protocol to ensure that this is seamless, but obviously you might see some outages.
General Reaction: Even a minor tweak to something glaringly wrong takes eons to be updated on the site.

Why are your marketing promotions so confusing?
Marketing Head: We ensure that all the parties involved in a promotion are safeguarded against any fraud chances. Conditions Apply is just one way to ensure that the rightful people benefit.
General Reaction: Your conditions ensure that no one except you benefit.

What about the flak that you are receiving for your logistics being weak?
Logistics Head: We pick the best courier and logistics providers available. Unforuntately, for factors beyond our control, we do see a small percentage of logistics and delivery issues that we are aware of and continuously working to fix them up.
General Reaction: I want my delivery done in time you promised, not the tracking number that sits in my Inbox for ages. 

I had earlier made a post that asked one simple question ‘Why is it so difficult to make things easy?’  

Side Note: Keeping things simple in all the above cases is not difficult. It definitely does not fall under ‘easier-said-than-done’ category. Its purely an intent issue. 

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Gosh! An Order

That’s how a lot of Indian eCom companies might be reacting when a new order is placed and this is why:
1. They are spending anything up to 500/- per transaction even if the ticket size is 100/-.
2. They are shelling out a minimum 50/- extra, thanks to free CoD.
3. They could be spending double the value of the product in shipping and they are doing it for free.
4. They top it with massive discounts thanks to their ‘survival strategy.’

There is a future for eCommerce in India, but for players who are more sensible. You need to realise that shopping online in itself is a convenience that you are enabling for your customers. Getting them habituated via the above methods is short lived.

Side Note: Change does not happen easily and unfortunately, it cannot be bought.

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