admin
March 17, 2016
The New Indian Express
Chennai, 17 March 2016
Purchase
of cars, bikes, or gold jewellery can give immense pleasure, but is a
labourious exercise. E-commerce companies are trying to change just
that.
A host of high-value products be it SUVs, cars, diamonds,
gold coins, two-wheelers including electric bikes are all up for grabs
online. If the likes of Flipkart, Snapdeal or Amazon saw rise in sales
of electronics or clothes during their formative years, version 2.0 of
Indian e-commerce market is banking big on money guzzlers i.e., luxury
products.
“There is more
flexibility in terms of the product categories and certainly e-tailers
are beginning to exercise that flexibility as much as possible. The
reasons are simple: currently, in e-com customer acquisition costs are
high, retention is low, margins are thin due to discounts, so any
product or service, which can broaden the portfolio and the chances of
a successful transaction, increase the value of the transactions
happening, or lead the customer away from discount-oriented behaviour
are being looked at seriously,” Devangshu Dutta, CEO, Third Eyesight
told Express.
“It took them almost a couple of years for
ecommerce players to get consumers buy mobile phones online. The
current trend of retailing high-value products will help consumers do
online research, compare products and make an informed decision on a
product purchase,” said Harish HV, Partner – India leadership team,
Grant Thornton India LLP.
“As customers are becoming comfortable
transacting online, the average ticket size is increasing and high
value purchases are rising. Premium brands are also coming online to
broadbase their customer base. We see this trend only growing further
with increasing smartphone-led penetration of internet,” said a
Snapdeal spokesperson.
(Published in The New Indian Express)
