Where are online deals ?
I have been looking to find sites like morestuff4less, that allow users to find deals available online in India. I was able to find only a single one - http://www.allindiadeals.com/ and this got me thinking. Are we too far behind the curve in online shopping or it is the next wave ?
It is interesting to estimate the state of online shopping in India. To do this analysis, I first used a google trend graph for “online shopping” and Indian cities easily grabbed the top ranks. As a region, India ranked first followed by Singapore, Malaysia, UK. US doesn’t even figure in the list, which is one of the most advanced in online shopping (A recent survey indicated that online shopping in US has topped $25 bn).
Ebay is the leader in the online shopping with 38 per cent of market share. It comes as no surprise that the Google rank of ebay.in is 1 while Fabmall ranks 3rd with the keywords “Online shopping india”.
The google trends for “Online shopping India” is a zigzag but surely decreasing which shows that the searches have halved since 2004. So as a ballpark figure, we can assume the same rate and this gives us that we could be having negligible searches within 3 years.
I am still guessing when will we be able to easily compare items on the above shopping portals and also the individual brand websites ! Please be sure to leave a comment if you know of any such site.
Abhishek said
am October 17 2006 @ 5:31 am
Interesting facts Abhinav, it seems that there is still a big market there for “Online Shoppers” in India but they do not have “online stores” to visit and buy things. On a different note, one reason why indian consumer is wary of buying stuff online is the fear of frauds that there goods will never reach them, and if they are cheated we know the state of (offline/online
) law in our country (I don’t want to say anything about it as probably it is not the right forum). Until this risk is mitigated I do not see a spurt in sale of online goods, but I agree that it would pick up gradually.
Madhur Khandelwal said
am October 17 2006 @ 7:29 am
I had recently done an analysis of the online retail market in India, you can check it out at http://ileher.com/2006/09/30/ecommerce-roundup-where-does-online-retail-stand/
Pawan Agarwal said
am October 17 2006 @ 2:42 pm
Madhur,
you have an interesting post, Thanks for enlightening all of us with the link
Abhinav,
I am not too sure about the interpretation of the google trends, the decline in search volumes could mean People are already aware of where to shop, or people have started to drift away from online shpping because of bad user experience, security issues etc.
I think, e-commerce need to reach a critical mass before we have sites that present online deals.
suman said
am October 17 2006 @ 3:02 pm
Hey guys,
first abhinav gr8 post man. And secondly just wanted to know what you guys attribute the low penetration of online shopping(besides low net and pc penetration).
Rajiv Dingra said
am October 18 2006 @ 4:42 am
The is another mumbai based deals sites www.imwanting.com. Great post abhinav
IndianPad said
am October 19 2006 @ 2:00 pm
Internet in India » Where are online deals ?…
Internet in India » Where are online deals ? posted at IndianPad.com…
Abhinav Maheshwari said
am October 19 2006 @ 7:22 pm
Thanks for sharing your views, I am really glad that you found the article interesting. So here is the followup.
There is no doubt that the interpretation is subject to more investigation. But if people drifting away because of various reasons was the reason for decrease in the trends, how do we explain the less number of searches for “online shopping” from US ? May be the reasons for less “online shopping” searches is different for India and US, but not immediately clear.
I think the reason for low penetration of online shopping, apart from
pc and internet, is the principle of value for money. Unless it is proved to the users that online cost is less than real shopping, the penetration would be low. We are used to bargaining and buying things at less than quoted price.
Secondly, the users are not big spenders on books, music, jwellery, and flowers. If someone delivered grocery (real grocery like sugar, pulses not the indiaplaza’s namkeen and kaju barfi), I am sure it could be a hit.
Other items like apparels are too difficult to shop without trial and for stuff like furniture, I was not even able to find a site that could show me various designs. I would love to know about your experience, but when I personally visit online shopping sites in India, there is hardly anything that is useful to me. Give me bottled water, cold drinks, fruits, vegetables or even plumber’s services, and I may be hooked !
Where are online deals ?: Humdigg discussion said
am October 22 2006 @ 2:12 pm
Where are online deals ?: Humdigg discussion…
Analysis - India E-commerce and online deals …
Vaibhav Domkundwar - india 2.0 said
am October 23 2006 @ 8:47 pm
Abhinav:
This is a good post and very close to what we have been looking at, at Better Labs. I think there is definitely a place for deals sites but I wonder if a generic shopping deals site makes sense, given the low number of transactions. It would be a lot more interesting to focus on things people buy online or are ready to, at this point in time. Also deals around things people could buy by calling the provider, say. I’ll keep you posted as we get one of our new deal-ish service ready later this year.
Cheers,
-Vaibhav
Abhinav said
am October 24 2006 @ 9:50 am
Vaibhav,
Thanks for the information, please do keep us posted. I definitely agree that things that people buy online would be more interesting but generic deals site may have a place to, if they can prove that someone took the trouble of comparing deals with the real store, not just pasted the MRP
Warm regards,
Abhinav
rg said
am October 29 2006 @ 1:02 pm
Even though your analysis is correct, I think it’s wrong to see search trend data for keywords like ‘online shopping’ and ‘online shopping india’ to make a statment like that. It’s ‘fake but accurate’ - as I read somewhere.
Pawan Agarwal said
am October 30 2006 @ 1:20 pm
RG
I have also read that, but that talks about the zeitgeist published by google, in a sense that google does not publish terms like “sex” in it’s zeitgeist releases which would otherwise happen to be the top search term for many countries. Trends are indicative of search volumes over time, and it would be really difficult for any search engine to fake that, and I don’t see any convincing reason for google to fake the trends.
Ravi said
am March 13 2007 @ 10:07 pm
Very interesting post Abhinav. Enjoyed reading it. I do think we are seeing the birth of online shopping in India with sites like ebay and bechna. It is going to be very interesting to see how things progress in rural areas.
PingJee said
am March 21 2007 @ 9:01 am
TolMol.com is an India focused comparison shopping site that allows shoppers to compare product prices and features. Indian shoppers will find TolMol.com an useful service as the number of online shopping sites increases.
Walter said
am March 29 2007 @ 1:08 pm
Very interesting article on Indian online shopping. Comparison shopping sites are definitely a great resource for consumers. Looks like India has a couple of them. (Question for folks: Why do they have weird names like BECHNA and TOLMOL??… I know tolmol is a city in Hwanghae, North Korea. Quite funny for an Indian shopping website name!)
pingjee said
am April 1 2007 @ 8:55 am
Walter,
TolMol (Tol Mol) is a Hindi word which means “Weigh the Value” or “Compare the Price”. It’s actually a perfect name for an Indian site that offers product comparison service.
Paul said
am April 5 2007 @ 12:32 am
Here’s a great site for online deals, but unfortunately it’s not targeted at India.
Walter said
am May 6 2007 @ 3:58 pm
Tol mol means ‘weigh the value’? =) that is funny. Does bechna mean anything or is it just a name?
Arjun said
am June 21 2007 @ 4:55 am
Walter,
www.bechna.com means “sell”
Rajesh said
am June 25 2007 @ 5:31 pm
Looks like there is another player in the same space!
http://www.discountsindia.com/
oqdcdkymzm said
am July 3 2007 @ 2:02 pm
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! blntvcbuvizxtx
homeowners insurance north said
am August 1 2007 @ 4:02 pm
aaa insurance homeowners how insurance homeowners
Prabhu said
am August 20 2007 @ 1:37 pm
There seems to be another player in comparison shopping and deals space - http://www.singdeals.com
Nitin Niket said
am September 6 2007 @ 9:46 am
Here at this site www.onlinedeals.in you will fine best deals for online shopping.
Crish said
am September 6 2007 @ 10:19 am
To know about DVD plz visit www.exploredvd.com.
Anne said
am October 1 2007 @ 1:35 pm
We would like to introduce ourselves as L&G Insurance Service. We have been servicing our clients in the field of Insurance for the past 9 yrs.
We would like to have the list of companies who sell their products online in India and also the different products sold online. And what will be the charges for this service that you’ll offer.
We will appreciate if you could let us know any website or companies regarding the above subject.
We expect your favorable communication at the earliest.
Joshan said
am October 3 2007 @ 12:45 pm
Dear Abhishek,
online shopping is goin to reach great heights in no time…
We do have a good number of online stores in India. Take for example www.storrz.com which is the only online shopping portal in India which allows users to shop for groceries online. Its not only got groceries but has got every single basic requirements like chocolates, cookies et al.. i had shopped for a pack of snickers last week!! very good service. They had delivered it to me the same day… And speaking about fear of frauds… this sites got an option that lets us swipe our credit/debit card at the same time the order is delivered. Pretty cool huh!!!!
sarath ks said
am October 4 2007 @ 9:50 am
Hai bejosh…Thank u for the information.swiping our credit/debit card at the same time the order is delivered!!!!oh tat’s cool.Letme check it out!!!!
Sonali said
am October 26 2007 @ 10:13 am
Here’s one very good site you should look for online deals in all metros. http://dealheadlines.com.
You can find quite a good deals in almost all categories and browsing is also very easy.
Watch this out !!
Vineet said
am December 15 2007 @ 11:57 am
Hi,
I found a site onlinedeals.com for shopping. The site doesnot have any contact phone no details. I wrote to customer care several times but didnot get any response about my order. Would any one have details about the promoter and communication address/ phone nos of the web site
Anju patel said
am April 23 2008 @ 2:59 pm
Hi I saw yet another online shopping webiste.
Shopping Surat is an onlie shoppig websites. Where there are about 6000 business contact details. Main categories of this website is Surat Diamonds, Surat Textile, Surat Sarees.
www poquer said
am June 5 2008 @ 6:18 am
jeux de planche a roulette…
Envoyer free online texas hold em texas holdem hand bonus casino playtech juegos azar portales internet jouer poker omaha…
Online shop said
am July 10 2008 @ 12:58 pm
Here at this site http://www.kaboozie.com you will find best deals for online shopping.
online shopping India said
am July 25 2008 @ 9:31 am
Hi,
I think http://www.naaptol.com also falls under this category.