Once I searched through many online sites for purchasing a speaker and audio system for home, I understood thatmost of the sites in this space could provide a wide variety of such electronic items. Though I could test the quality of such speaker systems in the retail shop, I went online to get better discount offers and to reduce search time. Flipkart, Infibeam and Junglee.com gave different assortment of such products and also the offers were very attractive.
How was your experience of purchasing online? Do share your thoughts…..
Among these three sites, numerous varieties of products are available in Junglee.com. My next choice wasFlipkart. Though Junglee.com has wide varieties, I felt the user interface is not good when compared to Flipkart. In Junglee, after choosing a product the options for the selection of brand, sorting by price range are not available. I was supposed to search my brand through the listed products by flipping over the pages. In that way, Flipkart and Infibeam is good. As soon as I choose the product, all the information like available brands, price range, search through colours are thrown infront of me.
One thing that disturbed me is quality. How to check it? For that I was able to find a partial solution in the form of reviews and ratings given by the users. In particular,Flipkart reviews gave me the trust to go for online purchase, because the customers have given negative reviews. So I thought the quality factor can be well satisfied through reviews and ratings. Even most of my friends who purchased online believe in this.
Another attractive factor why I chose online is the convenient payment and delivery system. I felt cash on delivery mode of payment is comfortable to check the items and then pay, which is widely available in most of the sites. Cash on delivery is the one through which marketers gain the confidence of customers. Incase of delivery, the experience provided by Flipkart is exteremely good. Most of the persons whom I asked, know about the delivery system have shared that Flipkart deliver the product through Blue Dart, a fastest and secure delivery network. As soon as the payment is made, Flipkart is updating about the assumed delivery date, delivery number and with the help of this number of Blue Dart we are provided with the option of tracking the product continuously. Even after the delivery, we are loaded with information like who received our product, when and where they received. To my surprise, if no one is available to receive the product at the given address, we will be contacted through our phones and informed about the delivery. I feel such an efficient delivery and tracking system of Flipkart is their main reason for success. I didn’t get this level of confidence from Junglee, Infibeam or any other sites. Even Flipkart is not charging for shipping the products through such a valuable delivery network.
One thing that disturbed me is quality. How to check it? For that I was able to find a partial solution in the form of reviews and ratings given by the users. In particular,Flipkart reviews gave me the trust to go for online purchase, because the customers have given negative reviews. So I thought the quality factor can be well satisfied through reviews and ratings. Even most of my friends who purchased online believe in this.
Another attractive factor why I chose online is the convenient payment and delivery system. I felt cash on delivery mode of payment is comfortable to check the items and then pay, which is widely available in most of the sites. Cash on delivery is the one through which marketers gain the confidence of customers. Incase of delivery, the experience provided by Flipkart is exteremely good. Most of the persons whom I asked, know about the delivery system have shared that Flipkart deliver the product through Blue Dart, a fastest and secure delivery network. As soon as the payment is made, Flipkart is updating about the assumed delivery date, delivery number and with the help of this number of Blue Dart we are provided with the option of tracking the product continuously. Even after the delivery, we are loaded with information like who received our product, when and where they received. To my surprise, if no one is available to receive the product at the given address, we will be contacted through our phones and informed about the delivery. I feel such an efficient delivery and tracking system of Flipkart is their main reason for success. I didn’t get this level of confidence from Junglee, Infibeam or any other sites. Even Flipkart is not charging for shipping the products through such a valuable delivery network.
How was your experience of purchasing online? Do share your thoughts…..
Madu Good Article.But i have a few doubts in it.
ReplyDelete1. Suppose if the customer who opted for COD(Cash and Delivery) and he refuses to buy the product, Then what will be the loss incurred ??
2. The Current rate of rejection in Indian E Retail is about 20%. How companies are going to tackle this ?
Hi Ganesh,
DeleteSince cash on delivery system is booming, it is valid to think about this issue. Companies are in deep trouble because of this problem. So, Fetise.com has introduced a cash before delivery model(CBD). If a product is ordered through this site, Gharpay, a cash payment network company of Fetise, will go to customers house and collect the money and then product will be shipped within prescribed period.
Use this link to read more: http://techcircle.vccircle.com/500/fetise-ties-up-with-gharpay-for-cash-before-delivery-but-why/
And Redbus is charging a premium for Cod options to make customers pay online.I think such innovations will help them out.
Hi Madhu
ReplyDeleteIt was a good article. Still now i don't have any online purchase experience but in Your article, you compared the emerging online companies advantages and disadvantages and gave me an idea where i should do my online purchase in future.
Next, business model of Flipkart is not a novel one, they were Amazon employees, copied their business model and were executed very well in India. Even Flipkart is also called as Indian Amazon.
I just want to add some more points regardind flipkart delivery. Apart from third party delivery , Flipkart has their own delivery services in 30 Indian Cities. i hope this integration will continue throughout India to deliver efficient services.
Do you think Amazon along with Jungle entry will be a great threat to Flipkart?
Recently, Flipkart started pumping thier money into advertsiments? is this because of Amazon entry? Like this lot of butterflies are flying in my brain when i think about flipkart.
Hi Srini,
DeleteThough Flipkart has a strong presence in the minds of the customer through their delivery system, Amazon is trying to gain market share by placing their products at a very low price when compared to Flipkart. As of an article I read about Flipkart, it is at loss. Even after their strong presence for about 5 years, they are not able to break even because of their price structure. Then how could Amazon can gain by quoting low prices when compared to Flipkart. Can E-commerce be a long term strategy?
Hi Madhu,
ReplyDeleteGreetings! I often time send courier to my father but it never reaches on time or sometimes he has to go and pick it up since my place is away from the city. A McKinsey report states that future of businesses is in small towns. If online retailers want to cater this potential market in future and scale their business is it possible??? (by a frustrated customer due to lack of online service!!!)
Hi sidhesh,
DeleteSuch online companies are serving small towns through some best courier services like Blue Dart. At main cities, they are having their own delivery network. They are planning to cater to small towns through their own delivery to cut cost as well as to better serve their customers.
Hello everyone,
ReplyDeleteIndeed it is a good article Madhu.
Well to share my experience of online purchase. Recently, a friend of mine ordered a pair of footwear through BATA's online portal. It was mentioned that it will be reaching in a week. It did reach but after some 15 days and that too my friend had to go to the delivery office to collect it because there was no service in his area of presence. Poor guy. I think Sidhesh is right that the online retailers should consider to meet the customers in rural areas also. It definitely is complicated but potential market.