According to industry reports, e-tailers in India were expected to account for 40 percent or USD7 billion of their annual sales during the festive season between October and December 2015. Much of this shopping was expected to take place on mobile devices, currently estimated to generate sales in the range of USD30 million, and take the total e-commerce market to a whopping USD16 billion.
While the industry is gung-ho about the growth prospects, a survey conducted by Dyn in early 2015 revealed that 42 percent of consumers in India still preferred the in-store shopping experience and that the same percentage of people would wait only for three seconds before switching to a competitor’s site while shopping online.
Given India’s limiting broadband infrastructure, reliable delivery of e-commerce websites and a seamless and secure shopping experience are still a far cry. And these concerns are expected to get compounded by increased traffic volumes to these websites with the memory of 2014’s billion dollar sale crash lingering.
Hence the question: Had India’s e-tailers, both established as well as start-ups, got it right while planning their strategy this festive season? And did they look beyond offering the right product mix and pricing to also think about offering a seamless "availability" and "security" strategy?
(Source: The Hindu Business Line )