Shopping is a ‘woman thing’ – a predominant
mindset of masses, has prevailed ever since. Well, truth be told, this outlook
is nothing but a myth now. We all love to shop irrespective of our gender,
creed or any segmentation, don’t we? Gone are those days when women were meant
to look beautiful and men to be rugged and macho. This new era of twisted
consumerism has definitely changed the whole idea of shopping pattern. What has
actually caused this pattern is a mix of many parameters.
There has been a new entrant in
the mode of buying goods/services and this is surveyed to be extremely
addictive – the online buying. For world going lazier, this mode presents you
an ever easy way of purchasing. Sit on couch; click a couple of buttons and
bingo! Days, if not hours later you receive your product at your doorstep. Incredible,
Isn’t it. This mode has fast been eating into the market share of brick and
mortar shops. It is expected to grab more than 10% of retail in developed
countries and the trickledown effect is soon expected in developing nations as
well.
What could be the catch behind
people shifting their choice of buying habit – a pretty valid question to be
pondered over? This has not only brought the male population, which was averse
to shopping before, into buying stuff but has impacted in a greater magnitude. Studying
closely about people’s buying pattern in recent days, some very important
reasons pops up. Of all some of these are
Ease of access: unlike being physically present at the store and
carrying your stuff back home, online shopping provides a convenient way of
placing an order and letting the store guy to care of the delivery. This has an
implication both on saving the effort of carrying and saving the time which can
otherwise be invested in other useful stuff. “I order my food online the moment
I leave my office and by the time I reach my home it arrives, which in a way
helps me save time and effort.” says Vijayshankar, a techie at TCS. This is the
power of online ordering.
Internet penetration: India has fast been transforming its technical
footprint in every section of masses. Computer which used to be a prized
possession a decade back has become an essential commodity now. Not to forget
the arrival of smart phones and tablets, which has made erstwhile desktops
apparently redundant. With almost 250 million populations with internet access
and increasing exponentially the moment we speak, rise in online shopping is
inevitable.
Credibility of service provider: consumers were reluctant to
experiment in the initial phases of online shopping being skeptical of the
delivered product. Customer friendly policies like refunds, replacement and
after sale services were quite poor. The scenario is changing at light’s speed.
Online shops like Flipkart, Amazon etc. provides quality products with
valid guarantees, hence breaking the myth of receiving faulty product. “From
hardly buying a thing online to buying even onions online is my style of
shopping today.” quips Radhika Apte, a house wife in Bandra.
Better services: With rise in the number of players in the field, competition
has become intense. Every online shop is striving to improve its service better
than yesterday. They are either doing it by providing better and competitive
prices or by providing better services than their competitor, brick-and-mortar
shops included. The unique cash on delivery model (devised in India), easy
refund policies, replacement offers, and quick customer care services are to
name a few.
Price: in a price sensitive country
like India, a business to succeed will have to commit the lowest price when the
quality is at par. Online shops have the luxury of not maintaining a proper
store thus relieving it from the mammoth spending on real estate (~ 70%) and
other maintenance of stores. This provides them the bandwidth of providing huge
discounts, thus enticing newer customers every day. Investments from venture
capitalists are providing them enough muscle power to near losses in the
formative years. “I am frequent flier. With online bookings of flights and cabs
at ever low price nothing but delights me.” chuckles Vinod Bhatia, CEO of a
startup. Fighting on price is the mantra
of online shops which seems to working quite well as of now.
There are plenty of other reasons
which is accelerating the pace of changing mood of Indian purchaser with varying
degrees. What is going to the future mix of market in coming days is difficult
to speculate but it is for certain that online shops are going to make life difficult
for brick-and –mortar shops. These grand old shops must take appropriate
measures to counter the effect or they may have to fall prey to the new born
baby.
Shopping is a ‘woman thing’ – a predominant
mindset of masses, has prevailed ever since. Well, truth be told, this outlook
is nothing but a myth now. We all love to shop irrespective of our gender,
creed or any segmentation, don’t we? Gone are those days when women were meant
to look beautiful and men to be rugged and macho. This new era of twisted
consumerism has definitely changed the whole idea of shopping pattern. What has
actually caused this pattern is a mix of many parameters.
There has been a new entrant in
the mode of buying goods/services and this is surveyed to be extremely
addictive – the online buying. For world going lazier, this mode presents you
an ever easy way of purchasing. Sit on couch; click a couple of buttons and
bingo! Days, if not hours later you receive your product at your doorstep. Incredible,
Isn’t it. This mode has fast been eating into the market share of brick and
mortar shops. It is expected to grab more than 10% of retail in developed
countries and the trickledown effect is soon expected in developing nations as
well.
What could be the catch behind
people shifting their choice of buying habit – a pretty valid question to be
pondered over? This has not only brought the male population, which was averse
to shopping before, into buying stuff but has impacted in a greater magnitude. Studying
closely about people’s buying pattern in recent days, some very important
reasons pops up. Of all some of these are
Ease of access: unlike being physically present at the store and
carrying your stuff back home, online shopping provides a convenient way of
placing an order and letting the store guy to care of the delivery. This has an
implication both on saving the effort of carrying and saving the time which can
otherwise be invested in other useful stuff. “I order my food online the moment
I leave my office and by the time I reach my home it arrives, which in a way
helps me save time and effort.” says Vijayshankar, a techie at TCS. This is the
power of online ordering.
Internet penetration: India has fast been transforming its technical
footprint in every section of masses. Computer which used to be a prized
possession a decade back has become an essential commodity now. Not to forget
the arrival of smart phones and tablets, which has made erstwhile desktops
apparently redundant. With almost 250 million populations with internet access
and increasing exponentially the moment we speak, rise in online shopping is
inevitable.
Credibility of service provider: consumers were reluctant to
experiment in the initial phases of online shopping being skeptical of the
delivered product. Customer friendly policies like refunds, replacement and
after sale services were quite poor. The scenario is changing at light’s speed.
Online shops like Flipkart, Amazon etc. provides quality products with
valid guarantees, hence breaking the myth of receiving faulty product. “From
hardly buying a thing online to buying even onions online is my style of
shopping today.” quips Radhika Apte, a house wife in Bandra.
Better services: With rise in the number of players in the field, competition
has become intense. Every online shop is striving to improve its service better
than yesterday. They are either doing it by providing better and competitive
prices or by providing better services than their competitor, brick-and-mortar
shops included. The unique cash on delivery model (devised in India), easy
refund policies, replacement offers, and quick customer care services are to
name a few.
Price: in a price sensitive country
like India, a business to succeed will have to commit the lowest price when the
quality is at par. Online shops have the luxury of not maintaining a proper
store thus relieving it from the mammoth spending on real estate (~ 70%) and
other maintenance of stores. This provides them the bandwidth of providing huge
discounts, thus enticing newer customers every day. Investments from venture
capitalists are providing them enough muscle power to near losses in the
formative years. “I am frequent flier. With online bookings of flights and cabs
at ever low price nothing but delights me.” chuckles Vinod Bhatia, CEO of a
startup. Fighting on price is the mantra
of online shops which seems to working quite well as of now.
There are plenty of other reasons
which is accelerating the pace of changing mood of Indian purchaser with varying
degrees. What is going to the future mix of market in coming days is difficult
to speculate but it is for certain that online shops are going to make life difficult
for brick-and –mortar shops. These grand old shops must take appropriate
measures to counter the effect or they may have to fall prey to the new born
baby.
Insightful.
ReplyDelete