The Kirana Store is Now Online

Online shopping in India has moved away from the initial spate of glamour peddling and now addresses more commonplace concerns. When the e-retail concept was first introduced by sites like Fashionandyou.com and Privatesales.com,it was reserved for high-end acquisitions,like the LV tote or the Armani dress that you could not get in India. It was difficult then to imagine that the trail would eventually lead to the neighbourhood Lucky General Store,to allow customers to select and order everything from 100 gram of turmeric to their favourite shampoo sachet. But that’s exactly what sites like Letsbuy.com,Myntra.com,Indiaplaza.com,Naaptol.com,Ebay.com,Snapdeal.com,and Yebhi.com are doing selling products as diverse as crockery and grocery,clothes and electronic goods,home furnishing and books.

Anil Mangtani,who owns Lucky General Store,a grocery in Delhis Mayur Vihar,and a partner of Aaramshop,says,The online retail market is where the future is. Thanks to our partnership,we have been able to get orders from those areas in the locality,from where there were hardly any walk-ins. Ankur Dinesh,founder and director of Wirefoot India,a Gurgaon-based consultancy for internet marketing,says,Although there is no exact figure,estimates suggest that the online retail sector in India is posting an annual business of Rs 1,500-2,000 crore. Naturally then,most companies have either launched e-stores or are mulling over that option. It’s become top priority,more important than perhaps opening a store in the new mall. His views are echoed by Manoj Chandra,vice-president,Bata India,who says,We have realised that an e-retail website is an emerging market space in todays world. So it makes sense for us to be present there.”

There are several reasons why e-retail has made such inroads in India. For a generation already at ease with credit card purchases,e-retailing only takes things a step further: 24-hour access,a cut on travel time and expenses,flexible exchange policies,discounts and sometimes even free shipping. Also,the growth of internet usage has risen in Tier-II cities they now account for half of all urban internet users. The Nielsen Global Online Shopping Report 2010 says that eight out of 10 Indians it surveyed were planning to shop online in the near future,and one-fourth said they spent more than 11 per cent of their monthly shopping expenditure on online purchases. Only 23 per cent of those surveyed said they don’t buy online at all.

With more women using the internet,housewives now form a major chunk of the user base. Thirty-eight-year-old housewife Meera Chhabra from Agra is a case in point. Even though she is not conversant with online shopping,she turns to her children (aged 11 and 14) to order their school stationery and reference books online,and even to send Rakhi and Holi sweets to her brother in the US. My brother stays abroad and couriering was hardly feasible. But ever since my son told me about this website,I get them delivered at a reasonable price. Besides,many of my kids books are available only in Lucknow or Delhi. So,rather than travelling,we order them online. I got a credit card made for the purpose, she says.

Delhi-based bank official Kartik Sabharwal is another convert. Along with his two teenage daughters and wife,Sabharwal shops for everything from innerwear to gifts online.” My daughters always felt uncomfortable buying inner wear from multi-brand stores with people walking in and out all the time. Online shopping ensures one’s private space. Besides,sites like Shopimagine.in offer the latest styles and great discounts,” says his wife Sushma.

Aaramshop,which has started to cover Delhi/NCR and Bangalore very recently,with the tagline You click we deliver,has partnered with grocery stores in these two cities. The site does not maintain a physical stock of products. Instead,once the customers select products for their shopping cart,they have to select a nearby aaram store and the store will deliver the order. The response,say the proprietors,have been tremendous,and the company is now planning to expand to other cities.

So will e-tailing replace a visit to the mall? Not really,says Dinesh. “The phenomenon of the family going to a mall over the weekends will not change. In fact,sales at a mall are incidental you pass by,like something and buy it; while e-sales are intentional you need something,you look for it online and you buy it,” he says.

But there are still some grey areas that need to be ironed out. Representatives at Aaramshop say branded grocery products such as flour,tea leaves,coffee,sugar,cooking oils and pulses sell the most,primarily because customers are more comfortable buying tried-and-tested stuff online than trying out new products or brands. However,since we are into multi-channel sales,the website cannot keep a tab on our stocks. Out of 15-16 items that are ordered online,five-six products don’t match. So,we call customers and offer them alternatives from our current stock. Secondly,online customers don’t get to know about new products that over-the-counter sales promote, says Mangtani. Other back-end operations that need fine-tuning include logistics and refund for faulty products. Having a reliable delivery system is crucial since the entire module is built around the concept of home delivery.

But,things,say Chandra from Bata,will only improve with time. “Five years ago,people were sceptical about malls. Now one cannot imagine life without them. In the next five years,thats how indispensible e-retailing will become too.”

What is e-tailing?

E-tailing is strictly non-digital,non-travel and non-subscription content bought online. It can include all kind of products gadgets,clothes,shoes,gift items,accessories,grocery,electronics,appliances

What are the margins that e-tailers operate on? Is it cheaper?

The multi-category online retailers operate on 20-25 per cent gross operating margin,while the margins of websites depend on what they sell 6-10 per cent for branded electronics,30-50 per cent for flowers.