The birth of the 21st Century’s World Wide Web (www) brought forward a new age of prospects and opportunities in terms of business. The onset of the Internet laid down new possibilities for the scope of trade in India. E-Business has emerged as one of the most exciting new avenues in the field of commerce, reviving, re-introducing and reestablishing itself in the Indian market today. It has become the standard operating procedure for a vast majority of companies. As of October 2014, India has over 270 million users of Internet. Everyday, India is witness to the launches of hundreds of websites.
E- commerce is a subset of E-business with a special focus on commerce. Commerce can broadly be defined as the exchange of goods and services for other goods and services or for cash payment. E-Commerce is all that is commercial which a company conducts through electronic technology. E-Commerce re-establishes the very foundations of competitiveness in terms of information content, delivery mechanisms and customer satisfaction. It has innovated the system of Indian Retail Business.
Let it sink in! India’s e-commerce market was worth about $3.8 billion in 2009, it went up to $12.6 billion in 2013. Flipkart managed to raise USD 1 billion (over Rs 6,000 crore) in fresh funding from a select group of investors – Flipkart was founded in 2008. Amazon.in goes one up on Flipkart, to invest $2 bn. Amazon in talks to acquire Jabong; move to counter Flipkart’s Myntra buy ( Rs 2,000 crore). Flipkart sold over Rs 600 Crore in 10 hours on their ‘Big Billion Day’ while Snapdeal recorded sales of Rs.1 crore every minute on Snapdeal savings day.
E-Commerce facilitates easy, convenient shopping from the comfort of home. It is faster, easier purchase. However, it must be kept in mind that the product is not immediately delivered and hence, instant gratification is not possible. Sellers can get greater audience as and when their products are sold and stocks are liquidated. The Cash On Delivery option is the average consumer’s preferred method for completing transactions. The 7 < 30 days return policy has enhanced customer confidence in online shopping. Sellers have reduced their cost by reducing the salary and expenses paid to salesmen, monetizing their stocks faster to greater potential customers, selling the product at a price higher than the local market, liquidating their slow moving stocks, generating large volumes of sales, experiencing economies of scale and reducing sales efforts to convince the customer to buy the products, all these ultimately contribute to a more competitive price on e-commerce websites. Thus, it is in the best interests of small business owners to get into the world of E-business.
Nowadays, in the E-Business world, everyone talks about e-business models. Some of the most popular business models are :
Business to Consumer (B2C) – The most common example of a B2C application is the retail web site featuring the business’s products or services that can be directly purchased by the consumer.
Business to Business (B2B) – Examples of B2B applications include facilitating transactions for goods/services between companies, selling goods/services to businesses on the Internet, and supplying chain integration. Eg: Indiamart.com
Business to Business to Consumer (B2B2C) is one of the emerging models of e-commerce. B2B2C is basically defined as using B2B to help support and rejuvenate companies attempting B2C. This model is poised to do well as it capitalizes the success of B2B and the potential demand of B2C. eg : Judial, Grotel, Asklaila are some famous among this model.
Consumer to Consumer (C2C) – C2C is an interesting relatively new piece of the e-commerce world. C2C applications involve consumers conducting commerce directly with other consumers. Olx and Quikr are excellent example in this model.
Customer to Business to Consumer (C2B2C) involves consumers conducting transactions with other consumers using a business as an intermediary. www.autotrader.com is the best example for this sort of application. This site facilitates the transactions of selling used cars between consumers, but also contains an inventory of used cars to sell to the consumer.
Apart from above there are many other models that has potential scope of business in India.
Indians still hesitate paying through credit cards or net banking. They feel COD a safer option. The statistics have shown that online purchasing is more frequent in South India, then North, Central, West and finally East India, in the ascending order. Fashion Industry followed by Electronics Industry have shown a tremendous growth in E- Business today. It is always suggested to look for discount coupons before buying any product online.
Advertisements at the right time and in the right medium is extremely critical for survival. Social media and mobile devices are propelling Indian e-commerce and online shopping into massive growth. Customer acquisition and implementing fail-proof processes of business could be the initial objectives.
E- Commerce experts and analysts believe in a promising, growing, and glorious future for the Industry in the 21st Century in India. E- commerce interface has been living upto the users expectations in many ways and has a huge foreseeable potential to drive the Economy’s GDP. E- Business continues to grow with rapid innovations and experts predict that online sales will be increasing 100% in 2015. I believe that the future of E- commerce lies in its customized user experience and value addition.
