Indian e tailing sector has come a long way from being almost non-existent a couple of years ago to almost red ocean now! I come across a NEW e tailing website EVERY DAY and trust me, 'm not exaggerating when I say this.
At first, there was (and still is) Flipkart- the poster boy of Indian e tail with amazing focus on customer needs. It gave customers more than delight by providing services Indian customers never dreamt of- timely doorstep delivery. As if the customers were not happy with it, Flipkart went a step ahead and started giving services like cash on delivery and not to forget, awesome discount on all the products. It was a big hit all over.
Then somebody came up with the same concept in apparel knowing human beings' insatiable appetite to look good. So entered Myntra in 2007. Myntra today, at $100 million, is India's largest online apparel store and plans to take over ShoppersStop and Lifestyle in 2 years to become India's largest retailer! But wait, there's someone else too in the race. Here comes Jabong in 2012, backed by 'Rocket Internet' and grows monstrously to compete with Myntra in a year's time. Now these two are what one would call PERFECT COMPETITORS. They sell the same brands, at the same price, on the same model, catering to one customer base! Only difference is jabong has added home decor and premium apparel brands to its site; and I think it hit a nail on the head there. Not wanting to be left behind in the race, Flipkart too joined the bandwagon of apparel et al in 2012, making itself almost an Amazon of India. Speaking of which, Amazon too joined the e tail space and race in India by (quite discreetly) launching its website junglee in 2012. (Having been there for almost two decades, I wonder what took Amazon so long to make an entry in India.) There are more of these e-stores, like yebhi (selling branded and lesser-known-branded stuff), pepperfry, limeroad, koolkart, bagscart, firstcry etc. Also mushroomed are website selling quirky stuff like excitinglives, funkythingys, itshandmade, happilyunmarried, goingbonkers, chillisalt and the list goes on (okay, the last two are my inventions so don't start googling).
The e tail trend has picked up real fast, customers are spoilt for choice and its going to be amusing seeing new ways these guys & the brick-and-mortar ones will invent to woo the one-base-of-customers. Also, seeing how many of them would die accidental/natural death, eaten by someone else or survive would make for a great MBA case-study few years down the line, because it has perfect masala of Porter's 5 forces, 3Cs and 4 Ps, blue ocean-red ocean strategy, supply-chain, reverse logistics, M&A and all that gyaan.
Disclaimer: This blog lacks in the numbers/stats part, you may do that offline. It makes for a very interesting study merely following all the websites' origin and growth till date.
