E-commerce

What is E-commerce?Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce

is the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks(ATM’s, credit card facility).

Draws on technology such as electronic funds transfer , Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange(EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems.

Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at one point in the transaction's life-cycle.

Considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of business transactions.

Some common applications related to electronic commerce are the following:

online shopping, online banking ,instant messaging, electronic tickets, teleconferencing, etc.

E-commerce in India• Internet user base over 100 million.• 8 to 10 million people uses it for e-commerce.

By 2015 it will be around 39 million users.• Use of e-commerce in INDIA is low as compared

to US & UK but is growing at faster rate with large number of new entrants, India’s e-commerce market worth =$7billion (2012).

• Number estimated to go upto $40billion in next 4-5 years.

$6billion used for travel (booking of tickets ,hotels etc) and $1billion is online retailing.

About 67% of non-travel e-commerce is consumer electronics.

CASE STUDY ON

Top 10 E-commerce companiesaAs on 02/07/2012

1. Flipkart.com

2. Snapdeal.com

3. Fashionandyou.com

4. Myntra.com

5. Inkfruit.com

6. Dealsandyou.com

7. eBay

8. Homeshop18.com

9. Infibeam.com

10. 99labels.com

Source - http://www.bestindiansites.com/top-companies/e-commerce/

• Started by Sachin bansal & Binny Bansal in 2007 focusing only on online sales of books but later on it expanded to electronic goods and variety of other products.

• Flipkart is among the top 20 Indian websites has been credited with being largest online bookseller with over 11 million titles on offer.

• 2010- branched out to selling CDs, DVDs, mobile phones and accessories, cameras, computers, computer accessories and peripherals

• 2011- pens & stationery, other electronic items such as home appliances, kitchen appliances, personal care gadgets, health care products etc.

• 2012 - added A.C, air coolers, school supplies, office supplies, art supplies & life style products.

• Considered sometimes as amazon of India.

INTRODUCTION OF FLIPKARTHISTORY

• Initially funded by the Bansals themselves with Rs 4,00,000. Since then raised fund from capital venture funds Accel India in 2009 and Tiger Global in 2010($10million) & 2011($20million).

• Total sales :- 2008-09= Rs 4 crores 2009-10= Rs 20 crores 2010-11= Rs 75 crores Expected revenue by 2014= Rs 50 billion (500 crores).

HISTORY

MARKETING MIX OFFLIPKART.COM

PRODUCT• 11.5 million books are available on site.• Book was chosen as core product because lower transaction size i.e., Books

approximately starts with Rs.100, so it becomes easy for the consumer to trust the new Flipkart.com for 1st transaction rather than mobile phones/cameras

• Product line is extensive one as discussed earlier. Derives around 50% of its revenue from selling books online.

• Website is great, easy to use, easy to browse through the products, add products to wish list or to a cart, get product reviews and opinions, pre-order products, make convenient payments using different methods and better Search Engine Optimization.

• Quality level of the products is absolutely fine E.g., If we take the quality of books available in Crossword and Landmark is same as the quality of books ordered by Flipkart.com.

• Products are packed in such a way that they are Tamper proof, weather proof and breakage proof.

PRICEPRICE COMPARISION WITH OTHER E-COMMERCE SITE

Product Flipkart Indiatimes Snapdeal 

DELL INSPIRON 15 R (Ci3/2GB/320GB/Win 7)

31,600 32,288 31,995

DELL INSPIRON 14 R (Ci3/2GB/320GB/DOS)

29,958 31,357 Not Available

DELL XPS 13 79,445 Not Available 79,445

SONY VAIO Z13115 1,76,000 1,77,064 1,76,302

SAMSUNG GALAXY S3 37,900 39,990 37,999

NOKIA LUMIA 800 (Black) 22,999 24,999 22,999

SONY DSC HX 100 V (Black) 21,750 22,295 Not Available

Nikon Coolpix L810 Point & Shoot 

14,987 14,937 14,987

Nikon Coolpix S3300 (Green) Point & Shoot

7,712 7,706 7,712

• Price of the product taking account of various expenses such as Supplier expenses, Transportation expenses, Packaging expenses, Shipping expenses, Courier expenses, inventory maintenance expense, office and stationery expenses, sales and advertisement expenses, taxes, depreciation, discount allowances and many more expenses.

• Roughly about 5-7% profit per book orders which indicates that generation of revenue is on volume basis.

• Differentiated themselves by giving best selections,

best services at lowest best possible prices. (Video for the same)

• Discounts up to 35% across all categories.

• Upper edge in competitive pricing

PRICE

PLACEWarehouses are located in the following cities, often near airports.

•Bangalore•Chennai•Delhi•Hyderabad•Mumbai•Noida•Pune•Kolkata

PROMOTION• Majority of Flipkart are employed in Customer support division.

• It is the only customer support division in India having 24x7customer support functioning for issues such as regarding choice of the product to purchase,shipping,courier,how to order on website, mode of payment, gift voucher, order status &cancellation and returns.

• Having even tie up with Skype for the same on the website for user delight.

• Unique tool of Sales Promotion is Affiliate on their website.• Publicity is by words of mouth publicity generating trust and

accountability to users

PROMOTION• As internet/web strategy used Google Ad-words, blogs,socialnetworking sites such as

twitter,facebook,used Google ad-words,e-mail campaigns.

• Advertising focused on first

• Words of mouth from 2007-10 as the advertisment cost wasnot affordable

• Focused on Print and TVC from 2011 onwards.

• Launched their first campaign in tvc on 05/05/2011 with theconcept of Granny, Mouse, Magic Presenting The Concept ofGetting Books Delivered at Doorsteps at just one click of TheMouse through a Fairy-Tale.

• Launced their second campaingn• ”No kidding. Noworries” that we are serious about our promises we• make and experience shopping safely, delightfullyand with ease.

Flipkart is regarded among the leading e-commerce organizations of India for the following reasons:• 11.5 million books• Ranked among the top 30 Indian websites by Alexa rankings• 11 categories of products• 8 million views per month• 2 million plus registered users• Staff strength - 4500• 30 thousand products sold everyday• Delivery network comprising 27 cities

•Flipkart believes in providing its customers with the very best in online shopping and thus offers the following benefits for them:• Cash on delivery• Free shipping• 30 day replacement policy• Unmatched price range• EMI options

Facilities Provided to the Customers

•Future Plans•Flipkart has recently come up with Flyte,

which is an e-commerce store where the members will be able to buy songs. This platform is different from ones like Gaana.com where users can come and listen to their favorite songs and then connect with other people in their social network.

Conclusion

In 2012, Flipkart is aiming to earn INR 500 crores and has previously bought companies such as Mime360 and WeRead. Letsbuy is aiming at reaching the 150 crore rupees mark in the same period. Experts are opining that in a few years the Indian e-commerce space will be dominated by a couple of online retailers who may or may not have offline establishments. This will be done because some online retailers will either be bought out or forced to shut down.The companies, which are likely to do well, are Flipkart, e-bay, and Letsbuy. However, these companies will need to offer consumers with plenty of choices and also handle them properly in case there is some dissatisfaction or problem.

Flipkart USPThe USP of Flipkart is to provide the consumers with the best online shopping experience. The company aims to provide its customers with good value and wants to be regarded as one of the most friendly service providers in the domain.It is also looking to become the biggest e-commerce organization of India while retaining its focus on serving the customers to the best of their abilities. It will also look to innovate in this domain and try to expand its offerings so that customers have more to choose from.