#3 Advertising is no child's play

In and around 2000, most hoardings in the city of Mumbai were bought out for two years by start-up internet companies, and such "irrational advertising," has not changed yet, says AlokKejriwal, CEO and founder, Games2win. This particular behavior trait is largely driven by three factors, he says, next round of funding. Second, outspend and crowd out the competition. But that would work if there were two or three not 23 companies in the fray. And lastly, the misconception that advertising builds loyalty. "They would be better off spending the budget on delighting customers. Rather than advertising on TV, imagine if a Flipkart spent some of that budget sending its customers a surprise gift with a purchase. It could be anything, a pizza even. That will get them loyalty better than some cutesy film featuring kids with adult voices," says Kejriwal.

Don't get them wrong, who doesn't love discounts, but service matters too. Says Professor Gupta, discounts will slowly have to be reduced once more and more customers adopt e-commerce and move online for convenience. Differentiation should come from service.

Perhaps e-retailers could learn a thing or two from the home-grown travel portals. Beginning with air tickets, they moved on to hotel bookings and much more. The top three players — Makemytrip, Yatra and Cleatrip — have a combined 90 percent market share.

Read Also: 8 Real Reasons Why People Say 'No' To Google Glass

Read more: 5 Little Known Indians WithTech Inventions