5 reasons why E-commerce has become the new normal in India
9th May 2014

Every third enquiry we receive nowadays is for an e-commerce website. From established companies to entrepreneurs, everyone has realized the truth that e-commerce is no longer a fancy option to grow the business but the fastest growing primary option for business. E-commerce has always promised a lot from the dotcom boom days but has rarely delivered and mostly disappointed companies invested in it. However that is rapidly changing. New developments, especially in India are creating a very strong and positive environment for e-commerce. The strongest in fact tha we have ever seen.

Factors for the new e-commerce wave in India

• Proliferation of payment gateways - Earlier it used to be the venerable CCAvenues and ICICI Bank gateways. Now it seems that everyday a new payment gateway is sprouting up. Competition among payment gateways has helped entrepreneurs by reducing upfront fees, negotiation on percentages and quicker approvals. Check out our payment gateways page, although the list may not be current.
  
  
• Technology has become a non issue - Although we advocate custom solutions in our business due to design flexibility and reliability, there are literally dozens of options for the newbie e-commerce entrepreneur to choose from. You can now have your store up and running in almost no time (provided you work within the structure of the service provider). Technology is no longer the question, your marketing and product appeal is the focus area now.
  
  
• Third party delivery providers - One of the major sticking points used to be delivery. Either there was no delivery network in most areas or it was prohibitively expensive. But now third-party delivery vendors are coming up all over India with extensive networks, warehouses and delivery capabilities. And the best part is that if you have the volume then they are not costly too. India Post also seems to have woken up and is aggressively looking at taking some of the e-commerce business in India.
  
  
• A very busy and well off middle class - E-commerce always held a promise of being time-saving with its direct to home delivery model. With the average middle class person in India working furiously all the time, e-commerce becomes a vital option for standard purchases. When was the last time you got the time to freely browse in a book store? With most families now being nuclear, the kids rarely leave any time for the parents. E-commerce will always prosper where time is of the essence.
  
  
• Debit Cards - The killer app of e-commerce in India. With COD being too expensive for e-commerce providers and credit cards to much of a risk for conservative Indians, the humble debit card has become a vital link. A debit card mitigates the risk of credit default for the consumer and also avoids the high cost of COD for the e-commerce vendor. Finally debit cards are issued much more freely than credit cards.

Of course there are many other major and minor factors that are making e-commerce the new normal in India but the ones given above are in my humble opinion game changers. If you are on the fence about jumping into e-commerce just follow Nike's slogan and 'Just Do It'.

Cheers,

Ron