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E-tailing
Internet.
research
billion by 2002.
E-tailing
has
e-tailware
--
resulted
software
in
tools
the
for
development
creating
of
online
Benefits of e-tailing:
Less
E-tailers in India:
Yebhi.com
Flipkart.com
Infibeam.com
Myntra.com
E-bay.com
Indiatimeshopping.com
Communication backbone
Payment mechanism
Order fulfillment
Logistics
MULTI-CHANNEL RETAILING
Multi-channel
Experience:
A successful multi-channel strategy offers your
customers a consistent quality of experience,
whichever channel they use. The customer's
experience in buying a product influences her
perception of your brand. You must ensure that all
customer-facing staff in your contact centers, retail
outlets, order processing departments and website
development understand and comply with your
company's customer service standards. Policies such
as returns and delivery charges should also be
consistent across each channel.
Integrate:
You can use the data available from multi-channel
strategies to identify customer preferences and
maximize lifetime revenue. The risk in a multichannel strategy is that customers' information and
profiles can become fragmented as they use a
number of channels. In an integrated strategy,
purchasing data is consolidated into a single
database so you get a 360-degree view of your
customer.
Research:
A high proportion of shoppers conduct their prepurchase research on the Internet, although they
may use other channels to make the final purchase.
The definition of multi-channel retailing must
therefore take account of each stage of the
purchasing process.
Pricing:
When you operate a multi-channel strategy, you have
the option of charging the same price for a product
across all channels, or offering your customers
different prices, depending on their channel choice.
Offering customers website prices that are lower
than store prices is common practice and reflects the
lower overheads in website operations. Your
customers also have a choice between lower online
prices and personal service in the store.
Reach:
A multi-channel strategy gives you the ability to
expand your business on a national or global scale
without investing in further physical stores. An ecommerce website can be designed to operate in
multiple currencies and with local content to attract
customers in many countries. You can also conduct
business across multiple time zones with no
restrictions on opening or closing times.
2.Operating
3.The
4.New
5.The
Shortcomings of e-retailing
1.It has no theatrical ambience which can be the
customer.
2.It lacks an emotional shopping experience that the
customer can get in a personal shopping store.
3.It being container of intangible merchandise (i.e.,
virtual display of merchandise) does not provide
sensory support to the customer, these the customer
cannot hold, small, feel, or try the product.
4.On line customers are reluctant to part with their
credit card details on net, fearing they may be
misused. It arises security issues. The customers are
not yet convinced about the foolproof status of this
method, especially in Indian environment.
5.It provides, to a large extent, impersonal services
which the Indian customers are not exposed to; they
are rather used to the tangible personalized services
which's they miss in online retailing services.
6.It is lacking in family shopping experience which
the Indian customers enjoy at the weekends, and
Continued..
The
Challenges of E-Retailing:
1. Unproven Business Models
Most of the businesses on the Net were experiments
in new areas and did not provide enduring sources of
profit. This was the primary reason behind closing
down of 90 per cent of the purely e-commerce
companies in the beginning of this century. Today,
dot-com businesses have matured a little. Still some
of the businesses are at experimental level and do
not guarantee regular revenue.
3. Channel Conflicts
Companies selling through the Internet as well as
through brick stores may find their interest
conflicting at many places. In electronic storefront
orders, the goods directly reach the end-consumer
and so the distributors and sellers may feel the
threat to their existence. Most of the time, it is seen
that retailers tend to reduce price over the Net. The
sale at the brick store may store may drop because
the retailer may tend to sell more through the
Internet as a result of reduction of prices.
4. Legal Issues:
Proper laws have not yet evolved for Internet base
transactions.E-mail and digital signatures are now
being recognized as valid for any legal purpose.
Value Added Tax (VAT) is yet another area that
creates problems.
Taxes on goods and services are still an issue. Since
the taxes are levied and shared by multiple
government agencies at local, state or federal level,
there are no clear rules to guide retailers on that.
In e-retailing, the place of billing, the place of
dispatch of goods and the place of delivery all differ.
If these three places fall in different jurisdictions of
governments, levy and submission of taxes would be a
problem.
9 Characteristics
Websites
of
Well-Designed
E-Commerce
1. Ease of Navigation
When attempting to sell products to visitors, the first
requirement for selling a product is that the shopper
has to be able to find specifically what he or she is
looking for. Effective navigation is important to any
website, but its especially critical for e-commerce
sites. Lost visitors will result in lost sales, so every
effort should be made to have a site with clear,
logical navigation.
Examples:
Nikes online shop uses a vertical navigation menu.
When you glide over an item, such as Men, you will
then be presented with options for different product
types, brands, collections, and sports, making it
easier to narrow it down and find what you want
quickly.
3. Easy Checkout:
If the checkout process involves too many steps or is
confusing, shoppers will wind up abandoning their
cart with items left unpurchased. Ideally, the
checkout should involve a minimal amount of steps
and should be as easy as possible for shoppers.
Examples:
Add an item to your cart at White and Warren and
you will immediately see the contents of your
shopping cart. You will be presented with the options
to continue shopping or to checkout. If you chose to
checkout, you can login as an existing customer or
create a new account.
4. Branded:
Many shoppers are influenced in their purchasing
decisions by the brand, and so the need to establish a
strong brand is import for both online and offline
selling.
Examples:
Oakley is a well-established brand that is recognized
as a leader in their industry. Their website does an
effective job of working with their existing brand. It
is an attractive website that stands out from many of
the others that are selling sunglasses online.