Challenges in E-Commerce in India

                                                    Challenges in E-Commerce in India

(Managerial Communications Term-II Report)

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Acknowledgement

We, Group 5 of Section-Q, would like to collectively thank Prof. Shikha Chandra for her guidance and knowledge, which has helped us arrive at our report on the Challenges in e-commerce in India. We got to learn a lot about the various facets of business communication from her and that in turn has helped us in the critical analysis of this topic.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement        

Executive Summary        

Introduction        

1.1. E-commerce        

1.2. Evolution of e-commerce in India        

1.3. Growth potential of e-commerce in India        

1.4. Factors that will Fuel Growth        

Communication aspects of e-commerce industry        

2.1. Tools and Channels of Communication        

2.2. Communicating via Websites        

2.3. Seven Cs of a Great E-commerce website        

Literature Review        

Theoretical Framework        

    4.1. Drivers for buying online        

     4.2. Barriers for buying online        

Research Methodology and Analysis        

5.1. Data Collection        

5.2. Data Analysis        

    5.3. FsQCA  Calibration        

Conclusion        

Bibliography        

Executive Summary

Online shopping enables the consumer to purchase goods through Internet. These goods can be bought directly from the Seller. The customers in this kind of transaction over the Internet are defined as the e-consumer (electronic consumer), or e-shopper (electronic shopper), and this transaction is defined as e-shopping. An online shop evokes the physical analogy of procuring products or services at a bricks & mortar retailer. This process is termed as business-to-consumer online shopping. If a business buys from another business, the process is called business-to-business online shopping. It is very convenient and easy for the customer, since he gets the product delivered at his place with a single click. E-commerce websites like Flipkart.com, snapdeal.com, amazon.com etc also has the facility to exchange the goods within 30 days if the customer does not feel satisfied. These are some of the techniques, companies have been indulging in, to keep the customer engaged and to maximize Customer satisfaction. These companies have been striving hard to be able to communicate with customers and make a strong bond with them. The e commerce companies in India have been struggling with maintaining the customer base as customers show less loyalty. Thus online customer communication aspect of the business needs to be seriously considered.  There are also techniques that these Websites keep using to involve the customer more. This report tries to identify few major elements that e-commerce companies should incorporate in order to communicate and to engage the customer.

We have therefore narrowed down our research to the identification of drivers and barriers, which instigates the consumer to visit the site and shop from the site. This study uses fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to analyze the influence of drivers and barriers on online-shopping behavior from a compilation of 33 inspiring and 12 disheartening items of e-commerce as conditions, and purchase behavior as outcome. The empirical analysis uses responses of 68 Internet users to an online questionnaire form floated for analysis. The method includes a previous principal component analysis that reduces conditions to 7 motivations (hedonic, product variety, product customization, convenience, price, lack of sociality, and Internet exclusive availability) and 3 barriers (in-person, risk, and delivery). fsQCA offers insight into the knowledge of drivers and inhibitors of shopping online, with relevant implications for theory and practitioners.

Introduction

1.1. E-commerce

Ecommerce is a business model, or segment of a larger business model, that enables a firm or individual to execute business over an electronic network, primarily internet. Electronic commerce operates in all four of the major market segments: B2B, B2C, consumer to consumer and consumer to business. It can be viewed of as a more advanced form of mail-order buying through a catalogue. Most of the product or service can be offered via electronic commerce, from books & music to financial services and plane tickets.

1.2. Evolution of e-commerce in India

The era of ecommerce was ushered in India by the banks when they brought the user accounts online and allowed users to access them remotely for various purposes like transferring money, making bill payments etc. However, since computer literacy was low and so was the internet penetration, e-commerce never really picked up as a separate industry.

India’s first proper interaction with the online E-Commerce happened via the IRCTC in the year 2002. The government of India experimented with this online strategy to make it convenient for its public to book the train tickets. Hence, the government came up with Online Passenger Reservation System, IRCTC which for the first time encountered the online ticket reservation at anytime from anywhere. This was a boon to the common man as now they don’t have to wait for long in line, no wastage of time during unavailability of the trains, no burden on the ticket bookers and many more. The advancements in the technology, over the years passed, have also been seen in the IRCTC Online system as now one can do the reservation of tickets (tatkal, normal, etc.) on one go, easy payments, can check the status of the ticket and availability of the train as well. This is a remarkable and huge achievement in the history of India in the field of online E-Commerce.

After the success of the IRCTC which was unpredicted one, the online ticket booking system was followed by the airlines. This occurred around the year 2003. Airline agency encouraged web booking to save the amount of commission in form of money given to agents and hence in a way made a major population of the country to try E-Commerce for the first time. Today, the booking or reservation system is not just limited to the transportation rather hotel bookings, bus booking etc. are being made using the websites like Makemytrip and Yatra.com.