Is E-commerce In India Getting Bigger?

E-commerce is one business that has gained a lot of momentum in India. Of the many brands that are looking to grab a piece of this lucrative business, BigAdda is one of the more notable. The Reliance ADA Group-promoted social networking and blogging site, BigAdda recently disclosed that it’s no longer pursuing a future as a local social media network. Rohit Sharma, the CEO of Reliance Entertainment (digital business) described the company’s decision in clear terms:

This is a conscious decision to transition Bigadda.com to e-commerce business … The move is due to lack of growth opportunity in the social space as it has been infested by the global players such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

The homegrown social networking site launched in 2007 and looked to be the “next big thing,” but it couldn’t live up to the hype even after getting celebrities on board. But was it only fierce competition and the lure of lucrative business which induced BigAdda to choose e-commerce?

The answer is that BigAdda has, in fact, been pushing itself discretely into the e-commerce market for the last few months. With 3.5 million users from small towns in India, Bigadda boasts 5.5 million registered users in total. Bigadda seems poised to grow parallel to the development of India’s rural Internet, currently booming in non-metro cities in India.

However, the company has some competition especially with Amazon soon to hit Indian shores. There is also Flipkart’s huge funding and Indiatimes’ revamped e-commerce portal to contend with. These moves by local and international businesses are a good indication that businesses want to tap into the potential of Indian online customers.

shop.bigadda.com

But is the Indian online customer ready to walk that extra mile? Not at the moment. Indians are not shopping online except for tickets and hotel bookings. As per a report by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Indians are not at all comfortable shopping online for personal things. The study also highlights that most customers use the Internet for little more than window shopping.

In spite of this, the ecommerce industry seems upbeat and the growth trend is interpreted as a big opportunity for all players. Mehul Gupta, associate vice president of IAMAI said:

Net commerce in India has evolved over the past decade in terms of magnitude. The total net commerce market of India is expected to grow to Rs.46, 520 crore (US$ 10.6 billion) by December 2011. It has come a long way since 2007 when the market size was just Rs.8, 146 crore (US$ 1.8 billion).

Is it all just a mad rush or a real industry shift? Only time will tell. For the time being, if Indian businesses have to mint money in this sector, then a few positive changes are needed to attract the Indian customer:

1. Educating metro and non-metro customers about the online purchase medium and the safety measures to be followed.
2. Use of videos and 360 degree product views on websites to give customers a better ‘feel’ for what they’re buying.
3. Lucrative product deals will be the driving factor for the e-commerce industry.
4. Showing appreciation to customers for being a part of the business will lead to positive word of mouth.
5. Incorporating television as one of the mediums for reaching out to people creating brand awareness, because television is still the biggest medium in India.
6. Free and prompt delivery across India without any questions should be a ‘must feature.’ Choose your third-party delivery agents efficiently and constantly review them as Flipkart does.
7. Having a return policy for goods and acceptance of goods at your own cost when found defective will be liked by customers
8. 24×7 customer support and integrated social platforms as part of the e-commerce business is a must.
9. Secured online payment and cash on delivery initiatives can make this industry really exciting.