The Digital Switch (eCommerce)
eCommerce is going to see a lot of new launches, funding, mergers and acquisitions in the next few months.
Gone are the days when almost everyone would shudder to swipe their credit card online scared of trojans and CC info theft, online frauds etc. A whole new generation of price conscious savvy net-shoppers are now going to drive this segment.
Why did I mention price conscious?
Well this brings me to the ‘Digital Switch’ which one is seeing nowdays.
This was the scenario till sometime back:
Research a product fully online.
Go offline and make the purchase.
What has happened now?
Go offline and fully check the look and feel of the product.
Go online and make the purchase.
And I’m not talking about the most obvious purchases such as Camera’s and mobiles. I’m talking about Watches, Books and Shops.
Let me take you throught 3 separate incidents which have me convinced about the digital switch.
Books - Crossword vs Flipkart:
A friend wanted to buy ‘Chicken Soup for the Romantic Indian Soul’….
But before buying it she wanted to read a piece from it. As many of you may know, the Chicken Soup books are a collection of pieces, stories, poems, anecdotes etc.
So she went to Crossword. Read a piece. Was convinced. Went online and made the purchase.
The Crossword price was Rs 297. The Flipkart price was Rs 207 (free delivery).
Watches - Shoppers Stop vs FashionAndYou:
This is the other way around. A friend spotted a nice watch at FashionAndYou.com. Now watches are very dicey online purchases. The problem is that the size of the dial is often mis-leading in a photograph…and men when they buy their watches, they are primarily concerned about how the dial is going to look on their wrists and the thickness of the strap does matter a lot too.
So he goes to Shoppers Stop…
Finds the particular piece (4727415) at the Casio counter priced at 7995. Tries it on. Is convinced. Goes online and purchases it for around 5000.
Shoes! - Levi’s vs BisShoeBazaar:
The Levi’s shoes at the site BigShoeBazaar were (are?) for a considerable amount lesser than what it was in the Levi’s stores. So this ex-colleague of mine goes to the Levi’s store and tries out a particular pair. It was priced at 1590 offline. He picks it up for 954 online.
Another example above was that I myself bought a pair of shoes from the site. Adidas had a flat 40% sale in their stores while online one was getting it on a 50% discount. Didn’t save much and not that Rs 100 saved made a great difference, but then again…why spend more?
Again on a personal note: I’m going to buy a Nikon D90 in the next few days. The Nikon D90 (w/ the stock 18-105mm lens) in the Nikon showroom or any other place costs Rs 53-57K. In the grey market in Mumbai it costs around Rs 51,000. I’m getting the same camera online with a 2 year warranty for Rs 51K.
Why should I buy it offline?
