ONLINE RETAILING IN INDIA

Online retail offers global reach for both buyers and receivers, which is absent in the case of a fixed physical store. It also provides round-the-clock reach and hence there are no market timing restrictions." Presently E-commerce accounts for just 0.12% of all retail sales in India compared with over 4% in China and America. But it is growing by 30-40 per cent each year and with branded players stepping in for most products; credibility is not a major issue. Online shopping is not only more convenient for consumers with hectic lifestyles, but also gives a better deal for their money. The major reasons driving the online buying is cash-on-delivery facility, and discounts & offers provided by the online retailers. Considering that modern retail will have a positive, multiplier effect not only on the economy, but also on employment, direct and indirect government revenue, industrial output, urban and rural development, strengthening of infrastructure, etc. Smaller towns can access branded products only online. Shoppers check out stuff in showrooms and order online. There is an increased availability in online payment options, a wider range of merchandise, online tracking of shipments, 24-hour, seven-day-a-week customer care, and a larger Internet reach at cheaper costs. A service man busy in his hectic schedule can easily get a pair of shoes online without any searching cost with all the brands at one platform. A girl living in isolated small town can find all types of branded dress (international as well as Indian) for herself online. A business man working 24*7 hours can purchase a flat for himself in best price as the cost of intermediaries is significantly reduced. A diabetic patient can get testing strips at his doorsteps. A housewife can get jewellery, home appliances sitting at home. Some of the top e-tailing sites are amazon.com, flipcart.com, homeshop.com, naaptol.com, myntra.com, olx.in, Quikr.com, snapdeal.com and many more. Let me take you through some of them. WEBSITES GLOBAL , INDIAN ALEXA ALEXA RANKING RANKING DESCRIPTION

Flipkart.com

229

13 Flipkart is an Indian e-commerce company headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in

eBay.in

382

2007. It offers books, music, computers, cameras, kitchen appliances, health-care products, electronics and toys. The cash-on-delivery model adopted by Flipkart has proven to be of great significance since the credit card and net banking penetration is very low in India. 22 eBay is an American multinational internet consumer-to-consumer. Founded in 1995, eBay is one of the notable success stories of the dotcom bubble with operations localized in over thirty countries. Millions of collectibles, decor, appliances, computers, furnishings, equipment, domain names,] vehicles, and other miscellaneous items are listed, bought, or sold daily on eBay. 27 Amazon is an American multinational electronic commerce company with headquarters in Washington, United States. The company was renamed after the Amazon River, one of the largest rivers in the world. Amazon.com started as an online bookstore, but soon diversified, selling DVDs, CDs, MP3 downloads, software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, and jewellery.

Amazon.com

10

Quikr.com

580

Olx.in

544

33 Quikr is an online classifieds company based in Mumbai, India. Quikr was launched on 12 July 2008 and is currently present in 90 cities across India. It provides the local community with a platform to help them buy, sell, rent and find something and address needs across many categories. These categories range from Mobiles, real estate, cars, services, jobs, entertainment, furniture, electronics etc.[ 35 Olx is an internet company based in New York City and Argentina. OLX provides a simple solution to the complications involved in selling, buying, trading, discussing, organizing, and meeting people.

Jabong.com

749

47 Jabong is a fashion and lifestyle ecommerce portal launched in 2012. It retails apparel, footwear, accessories, beauty products, fragrances, home accessories and other fashion and lifestyle products.Jabong.com offers sameday delivery in Delhi/NCR and within 48 hours in other cities. 59 SnapDeal is the leader in the hottest category of ecommerce models: group buying. Founded by Jasper Infotech in 2010, a coupon player, it sells everything from dining to beauty packages, health services to lifestyle products, holiday packages to movie tickets. 61 HomeShop18 is the online & on-air retail marketing and distribution venture of Network 18 Group that was launched as Indias first 24 hour Home Shopping TV channel on 9 April 2008. Its product categories are Books & Music, Mobiles and Cameras, Electronics, Home Appliances, Health & Fitness, Home Decoration, Kitchen & Dining, Jewellery & Watches, Toys, Fashion Accessories ,Kids & Babies 75 Myntra.com is an Indian online shopping retailer of fashion and casual lifestyle products, and headquartered in Bangalore. Myntra offers the option to pay cash on delivery of products, which is a bit hit. It currently offers products from more than 350 Indian and international brands. 86 Yebbi was promoted by Kanpur-based shoe trader, Danish Ahmed, who hails from a shoe manufacturing family, started in 2009 as bigshoebazaar.com has taken a bottom-up approach in growing inventory. Knowing that size is often a big issue with shoes, it encourages its users to buy 2 sizes and return one. Its products today include jewellery, shoes, home appliances, electronic etc.

Snapdeal.com

820

Homeshop18.com 945

Myntra.com

1096

Yebbi.com

2,875,434

*Alexa ranking change on daily basis.

Analysis of some of the largest retail sub-categories revealed that coupon sites were the largest in use, consumer electronics ranked next, followed by shopping, books, flower, jewellery, and home.

WHATS THEIR STORIES IN NEWS

"We are clocking daily sales of Rs 2.5 crore ($5 million). Our growth rate has been 100 per cent quarter on quarter," Sachin Bansal, CEO of Flipkart, told IANS. "What ever it is, you can get it on eBay." "Buy it, sell it, love it. "Buy it New, Buy it Now." "When it's on your mind, it's on eBay". Ours are selective deals; only 60-70 per cent is discounted. We pass on manufacturers' discounts on to the customer. We benefit from volumes, have no offline rental cost. Ad cost is less. Once you pick a product, say a digicam, we recommend accessories. They appear on the right of the screen when you browse for goods. We tell you about different products, brands. With improved service, online retail may become as robust a model as offline retail is today, says Vora.

PUBLIC REVIEW
Shopping this way is a luxury. I get all brands under one website-roof. says Neeraj, Bihar. Trusted brands and good cataloguing are my reasons, says Parul, Delhi. I get my dresses from Myntra and log on to Flipkart for electronics; they have good deals, says Nirali, Kerala. The electronic retail growth of Indian market as estimated by Euro-monitor report, had touched Rs. 2700 crores in the year 2011 from Rs. 400 crores in 2005 and is expected to reach around 7000 crores (over $1.30 billion) in 2015 with the increasing level of internet awareness and penetration as per ASSOCHAM survey. The growth rate of online retailing is approx. 35% annually.

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES ON E-RETAILING IN INDIA

As the delivery services are becoming more modern in using information technology, etailers may face some risks to properly handle on their consumer data. People in India are not accustomed to the online shopping system and moreover the online payment system through the credit card is also totally alien to them. Most of them do not avail of the transaction facilities offered by the credit cards.

The customers using the online shopping channel should be assured that the products that they have ordered would reach them in due time. Every single transaction challenges e-retailors to deliver the goods quickly, cheaply and conveniently. The customers need a psychological comfort and trust so they should be assured that the online retailers are not only available online but offline as well. Most internet retail shops use English as their mode of communication. English may not be comprehensible to the majority of the Indian population. To increase the customer base, content in the online retail shops should be provided in local language.

SUGGESTIONS
Consumers are always hungry for modern ways of shopping. Indian retail sector is growing fast and its employment potential is growing fast. The retail scene is changing really fast. Retaining the e-customer is a tough challenge. The internet customer is very hard to predict and is different from the normal customer. While a normal customer expects strong loyalty, such a loyalty on the Internet is difficult to obtain. To attract and retain the customers, the retailers particularly the e-retailers have to take more efforts than to just attract. It is very easy to lose an e-customer. In a nutshell, the main suggestions of e-tailing business in India are: Customer care should be a top priority as with leading online companies. Online customers are more aware, more sensitive and therefore more difficult to retain. The industry should ensure that customers must feel safe and secure while transacting online. A mix of marketing tools such as public relations, advertising, promotions, direct marketing and Internet advertising should be used. Customer loyalty programs should be initiated. E-tailers must provide an enhanced level of convenience, customization, selections, service and pricing.

CONCLUSION
Innovative, entrepreneurial e-tail companies are transforming the face Indian retail sector at a very fast pace. The new age retailing models that are becoming successful in the country are online models with excellent offline enablement. These business models are incredibly innovative in terms of their procurement, inventory management, vendor base development and collection approach (cash on delivery).But when it comes to credibility; it is no secret that Indian consumers still prefer a touch-and-feel experience when it comes to shopping. Some analysts, however, believe that it is only a matter of time before Indians begin trusting the online shopping space.