Comments on: Mumbai & Delhi Rank As Largest Ecommerce Hubs – Why Ecommerce Is Key For Online Advertising Growth?

By: Sivanand G

Sivanand G — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:42:54 +0000

I had ordered a T-shirt online approx 2 months back.The delivery was in 48 hrs. It is yet to arrive..

By: Rajeev

Rajeev — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 03:07:58 +0000

Offline shopping vs Online shopping

In India people prefer offline shopping. Only those products that are easily available in nearby stores are suitable candidates for online shopping carts. But consumers prefer to know about the products through Internet and then buy offline those products.

Thanks,
Rajeev
http://www.brandsindiaonline.com

By: maya

maya — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:41:44 +0000

in general terms both online and offline stores offer same rates, both have their plus point and minuses.

for offline stores, having to maintain a physical store adds upto the address and for online sales the cost of courier and packaging covers it up.

By: Rizwan

Rizwan — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 08:04:41 +0000

Shashi I completely agree with you, but I have also got some amazing deals online. My friend just got Sennheiser headphones online and those were priced 200 rupees less than the offline price. You need to understand that most of these products are posted by users who wish to sell them at a higher price and bank on the internet/technology factor.

You just need to be careful buying online considering the number of fake merchants out there and credit card thefts…however, I reckon the the statistic listed above translates to the number of credit card holders in each sity.

Mumbai also boasts of the highest credit card holders and the highest number of credit card spendings…. thus the number of online purchases would also be highest in Mumbai.

I don’t remember a single movie in the past one year when I have bought tickets form the ticket counter… I always book them online…although a different scenario, the same holds true for lot of people who wouldn’t mind paying 50 Rs. extra to get the thing at home rather than going out and shopping for it (the fuel prices are too high )

By: Shashi

Shashi — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 04:05:31 +0000

Talking of USB drives buying online, here is my two-days old experience. I just went out and bought a 2 GB USB drive from a store for Rs 300.

Just out of curiosity I checked its price online (including shipping).

Future Bazaar Rs 350
Rediff Shopping Rs 355
IndiaTimes Shopping Rs 340

All these sites mention retail prices (aka MRP) anywhere from Rs 600 to Rs 1900 (!) and tell you they are offering a discount of 50%-80%. That clearly is not true. The cost of online purchase is almost 20% higher, which defeats the notion of cost saving via no-inventory model. That may still be useful for people in remote areas where accessibility is an issue.

Earlier I used to think of doing homework online before buying offline. With this incident, probably I may have to do the opposite.