It was surprising for me when Parvez, a small leather bag shop owner in Dharavi asked me check online on flipkart and other e-commerce sites for more range of types of bags he had for selling. “Aaj ka zamana bohot smart ho gaya hai isiliye may apni bags online bhi bechta hu.” His shop must be hardly any bigger that 90 sq feet and the confidence he had in salesmanship was commendable.
As to anyone’s curiosity, even I asked as for how was he able to do this and how much profit does he earn? To which he replied saying that earlier he could sell 4 to 8 bags in a day but now since he has started selling it on e-commerce sites, he has a monthly turnover of around Rs 60,000. At first it was really difficult to believe him, but when he showed me his VAT and trademark certificates I had no options.
So further in our conversation, I asked him as how much did he invest in selling his product online, to which he said almost nothing, he further added that he himself did not believe his wholesaler friend when he was first introduced Parvez to sell his products on e-commerce sites. But it was not difficult, he added with a smile.
Well, this was just Parvez, but there are many such success stories about how a small household businesses are flourishing with the current boom in the e-commerce industry. So how does these work and what’s the guarantee that such websites will always be profitable?
Here is how you will understand how e-commerce has changed our lives and more importantly, the way business is done with no compromise to seller and consumer.
A: Seller point of view
When we come across success stories or meet someone like the bag seller, you see that everyone are from different fields and have different level of understanding of their work. In Parvez’s case, he was not much literate or may not have studied on how to do business. But even then, he was able to earn a good amount of profit. So what has changed?
Firstly, to do business, one needs proper documentation like VAT and trademark certificates not only to earn but also to establish yourself (your brand) in the market. Then selling these products online, one needs professional photography, warehousing, cataloguing, knowledge of peak and off-season, market study and most importantly know what your customer exactly needs and that too with not compromising on the authenticity of products being sold.
To add to all these, you also need to know which websites needs more attention since there are more than one. Isn't that a tedious task for small businesses to look into to so many matters? Indeed it is, but what if all this is done one person?
Even before we could think, there were solutions. Companies like BluBox and Unicommerce. These companies serve as your one-point contact for all different online portals. They help you with all sorts of the above listed business requirements and ease the way you conduct your business.
Now it is up to the end consumer to decide and buy the best product that one make like. Such companies bring all sellers on one platform and distribute your products amongst the ‘B to C’ portals to further sell them. This makes the job easier for the seller as well as individual portals too.
B: Customer point of view
We are all aware of the current trend in the increase in use of e-commerce sites and their smartphone apps that makes buying products online a cakewalk. The Indian consumer market is very sensitive and cost conscious. Very recently we saw Amazon advertising itself rigorously for its three-day Diwali sale and before that we have come across Flipkart and SnapDeal’s one-day mega sales.
What makes these e-commerce sites more preferable is due to its wide range of products and competitive pricing. Another plus point is that you as a consumer are exposed to variety of brands and can self compare to finalise your decision to buy the product of your choice. Also you have an option of personally comparing price with a shop selling a similar product in your vicinity.
The ease to pay your buying with “cash on delivery” and instalments or EMIs has increased the average buying capacity of a common Indian. Also easy returns policy and “exchange schemes” too have proved beneficial to many.
Amongst all these, a customer also saves his valuable time and energy of physically going to a shop and buying.
Why is the boom?
E-commerce websites with the increase use of smartphone apps are an inseparable part of the digital age, what’s more as these have a huge market share with deepest penetration and good huge revenue.
These sites give a chance to directly interact with an individual user via doorstep delivery of the product. Also as per an independent research, the number of internet and smartphone users has increased by 18 per cent in last two years.
The Success stories of such sites are not an unknown tale to us as the Bansals of Flipkart or China’s Jack Ma - founder of alibaba.com - supposedly the biggest e-commerce portal.
To sum it up, e-commerce or e-business websites are a win-win situation for both, the buyers and the sellers as in today’s digital age this is the future!
