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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.

April - 2012 - issue > CEO Spotlight

Trust Matters

Venu G. Somineni
Founder & CEO-MyDeals247
Monday, April 2, 2012
Venu G. Somineni
California based MyDeals247 is a personalized social E-commerce platform that offers real time buying and selling option, volume based discounts and personalized ad display.

I have been observing the internet market for the last 12 to 13 years and there has been a phenomenal growth. This pace in growth is visible in all the different segment of the internet space as well. Still there are quite a few problems, especially in the ecommerce space. To begin with, there is no real time platform for buyers and sellers in the local city. Let us take a regular ecommerce website for example.

When you go to a website, it is no different from you walking into a personal store and picking up products for the price they offer, but the buyers do not know where the product is coming from. Then there are issues in terms of delivery, the item could be damaged and we have to wait for another 10 to 15 days for their replacement. Also, at times the offers and prices are not real time. Moreover, the players are selling everything and this is resulting in the buyers getting a bit defocused. I believe the future lies in complete personalization of the customer’s needs.

Establishing trust is a key factor for an ecommerce company. Quality of the product, delivery, warranty and all constituted to developing the proper trust. So if we can consolidate all these issues and get them fixed for good, a major part of the challenge would be dealt with and the trust factor will be established. Another challenge faced by the industry is regarding the attitude and beliefs of the buyer. Every business is trying to do so much from their side but still the buyers are not responding that positively. The estimated worth of retail industry in the country is around Rs.8 lakh crore, but only about 5.5 percent of all the sales happening in this industry is happening online. This means that, majority of customers still do not trust online buying.

What entrepreneurs should understand is that it is absolutely alright even if you fail. If you come across an idea, do not just share it with your peers share it with your seniors, mentors and so on. Be focused and always try to solve a problem and never get into too many areas which might disturb your focus. If this happens, end of the day you lose the game. Last but not least, spare a major chunk of your time for research. The time spent on research will help you a lot in the long run.

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