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The Smart Techie was renamed Siliconindia India Edition starting Feb 2012 to continue the nearly two decade track record of excellence of our US edition.

Is India Ready for E-commerce?

Deepika Cariappa
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Deepika Cariappa
American youngsters buy nose studs, belly chains, and temporary tattoos from India. Canadians are hugely fascinated by Bollywood fashion. The culture capital of the world, France, is an avid buyer of desi antique gramophones, flutes, and decorative wall hangings (eBay India Census 2009). Cross-cultural and geographical buying and selling has never been so easy. The Internet has become the undisputed leader in this arena, providing the perfect platform for buying and selling.

E-commerce has invaded this domain, and currently there is a plethora of online markets catering to any product one could possibly imagine. From books, clothes, and jewelry to mobile phones, cars, and bikes, everything is just a click away. So what is it that makes the World Wide Web the ideal trap? The answer lies in simple statistics. More than 25 percent of the world population uses the net regularly. India has surfed her way to be placed in the fourth position in the top 20 Internet users’ category by Internet World Stats. In countries like the United Kingdom, even grocery shopping takes place on the Web.

Websites are the new brochures. Not surprisingly, sellers have taken to the Internet in a big way in addition to the traditional method, if not as the sole medium.

Successful Selling on the Web

The success story in the Indian context probably started with the boom in travel websites, which have contributed nearly 80 percent to the online trade. The best in the business attribute success to the good old ‘right place at the right time’ truism. “Credit card and Internet penetration had just started and low cost carriers like Air Deccan, SpiceJet, and Go Air had launched at around the same time. With the kind of supply in the market, booking was becoming a hassle. But, with the travel websites one can conveniently choose and book without waiting for the travel agent,” says Noel Swain, Vice President, Marketing, Cleartrip.


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