Click and shop

e-shopping puts many products and services at one's fingertips.

E-shopping has come of age. The relatively new trend is fast catching on in India. And we are not talking just urban here. Easy access to computers and online services in towns and even villages is making India search the net for the value adds and best deals like never before.

E-shopping of course is as easy as easy comes. Just log on to the net, choose what you want to buy and virtually swipe a card. You buy on credit, pay when your pocket allows, and have the goodies rolling in from the comfort of your home.

According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), e-commerce is expected to grow at 150 per cent to Rs55 billion (about Dh4.98 billion) in 2007-08 from Rs 22 billion (about Dh1.9 billion) in 2006-07. Of the estimated 30 million internet users in India, 20 million are believed to be online everyday. The report adds that three-fourths of regular online Indians search for products and services online. This reflects a 60 per cent growth in the base of online shoppers in the last year, growing from 11.5 million in 2006 to 19.1 million in 2007.

Partner shopping

India has a young population (more than 700 million are below the age of 40) and, therefore, partner shopping on the internet is a huge draw. Books, jewellery, apparel, gifts, music, electronic gadgets, movie, rail and air tickets, hotel reservations, home appliances, toys, beauty products, health and fitness products... the list of products and services available on the net is mindboggling.

Interestingly, while Delhi and Mumbai are driving growth, the small towns across India account for 55 per cent of online purchases. The growth of e-commerce, the report adds, is being driven by emerging towns. According to Deepa Thomas, Manager (Corporate Communications) at eBay, which has two million registered users spread in 670 towns, "Around 50 per cent of our buyers come from the tier B and C towns such as Agartala and Tripura."

Jewellery brand Adora's online orders illustrate the growth of e-commerce in the smaller cities. E-shopping apparently is big in distant and lesser known Phagwara in Punjab, Durgapur in West Bengal and Bhubaneshwar in Orissa. "Non-metro or rural towns account for 35 per cent of our online sales," confirms Chetan Dhowan, CEO, Adora Jewellery. Manish Agarwal, Vice President (Marketing) of Rediff.com attributes the growth to, "Organised retailers entering the e-commerce space, thus driving the credibility of the business". The introduction of multiple payment options such as demand drafts, cheques, net-banking cards, cash on demand and mobile payment gateways, besides credit cards being offered by portals, have added to the popularity of e-commerce.

Strict regulations to safeguard customers from fraud have also helped. Credit card purchases are more secure now and the quality of the product bought online is also being monitored with greater care.
Rural initiative

A unique example of taking e-connectivity to rural India is Amir Alexander Hasson's initiative. An ex-MIT Sloan graduate, he has introduced wi-fi enabled services in Orissa's villages. "The villagers wanted to know if they could buy products or order a railway ticket on the net. That's when we decided to introduce e-shopping," he says. Hasson's company, Massachussetts-based United Villages (UV), started DakNet, a wi-fi service in rural Orissa in 2006. Hasson plans to extend the service to 90,000 villages across the country in five years.

Tapping new markets

The venture is remarkable considering that electricity has still not reached several parts of India. Villages covered under wi-fi have a kiosk equipped with a computer, a webcam and a wi-fi antenna. It is run by a computer-literate local who knows English, Hindi and the local language. Villagers can write e-mails and store them on the computer. Whenever a state transport bus fitted with a wi-fi box passes by, it picks up and delivers the stored messages to the UV kiosk in a nearby town with an internet connection. The kiosk then forwards the e-mails. Once the replies are received, they are delivered the same way. "DakNet is not just about providing raw net access to remote villages. It is about providing villagers with access to the same kinds of products and services that are available in cities. Essentially, we enable villagers to have freedom from a distance," adds Hasson.

This way, tiny slices of the good life reach areas that were hitherto untouched by the tech wave sweeping the cities.

Scope for expansion

The market is vast and untapped. A report by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) shows that rural India comprises more than 50 per cent of consumers and is a prime market for consumer goods and essential services.

There are others in the fray too. N-logue, a Chennai-based firm incubated by the TeNet group of IIT-Chennai, is delivering health, agriculture, government, education and other services online to rural India through wireless CorDect technology and services such as low-bandwith video conferencing. Drishtee started seven years ago and intends to connect rural residents through information technology. "We have been providing computer education through village kiosks. Many people have got employment because of their computer skills," says Satyan Misra, founder of Drishtee.

The Noida-based firm has covered 6,000 villages and hopes to touch 10,000 in the next two years. These initiatives have revitalised the rural economy and the results are visible. The traditional middlemen in rural markets have been eliminated and the entire profit goes to the artisan.

What's more, e-shopping has also become sophisticated with comparison-shopping, which is a web-only innovation that allows consumers to review the product price, shipping costs and track record of the retailer with a worldwide network of fellow shoppers. Sites such as Amazon give the estimated delivery date, offer bulk order concessions and several other incentives.

Comparison shopping

Says Subho Ray, President, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), "The best thing about comparison shopping is that it is consumer driven and puts extra pressure on retailers to be competitive and offer quality in product and service." According to Assocham, e-commerce is "cost-effective, easily accessible and profitable in many functional areas."

Both consumers and retailers desire safe, simple and comprehensive online shopping and e-commerce seems to fill that need. Says Assocham President, Venugopal N. Dhoot, "Twenty-eight per cent of regular shoppers are in the 18-25 age group, 048 per cent in 26-35, 15 per cent in 36-45 and nine per cent in the 45-60 group. "About 88 per cent of online shoppers are male and about 86 per cent of the user base held a bachelors or masters degree. Twenty-six per cent of shoppers are professionals or self-employed, indicating assured spending power."

Rapid and growing internet connectivity, especially in the rural tracts of India, could well be a true indicator of the wider spread of economic affluence for, let's accept it: it is great fun tapping a button and ordering goodies from home.