Feature | E-commerce portals present best offers and deals: any effect of the expected slowdown?

Come festive season, and all that one wants to do is to buy the best things at best prices, with comfort and ease. With the rapid growth and popularity in e-commerce and the increase in the number of portals entering the web world, Indian buyers now prefer to sit back and shop just with a click of a mouse!

While E-commerce portals are catching up quite fast, given the 'speedy and economical purchase' mindset of Indian consumers, the shopperholics are in for a treat this festive season. But the last few weeks have a buzz that the markets are projecting a slowdown in spends in the coming months.

Adgully tries to take a look at the situation from the other side of the table. We spoke to web portals with the aim to understand how does e-commerce portal try and attract consumers to make effective purchases; in an almost cluttered market, especially in the festive season. Also, how do these online shopping sites as business outfits, differentiate their offers and deals from competitors in order to initiate and sustain purchases.

Anisha Singh, Founder and CEO, mydala.com said, "Our primary focus is to gain the trust of our users and give them the comfort that if the deal is on mydala, it is an unbeatable one and they should buy it! As we have done with pioneering the concept in India, we constantly innovate and lead the market in building the best experience for our users."

Telling us about some of their innovative methods used this festive season, she added, "This Diwali, we launched India's first and exclusive mobile WAP browser for discounted deals, which will help mobile internet users to access mydala deals quickly on any internet-enabled mobile phone using GPRS or Wi-Fi. You can access our WAP portal even from a non-smartphone! Earlier in August this year, we had also launched India's first free BlackBerry® smartphone application for group buying in India."

Explaining how they are different from others in the market, Anish Singh said, "We have several features which distinguish us from the competition, a couple of which are: Firstly, the deals that we do are much better value/discounts to the customers in terms of discounts: that is a function of us pioneering the group buying space in India and having deep relationships with merchants coupled with the volume of paid customers that we give them. Secondly, our customers in most cases pay the entire deal value upfront, versus most of our competitors who issue a coupon on the deal. In our case the merchant gets the money upfront whereas in the others, they get zero money upfront."

According to a report by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), online demand during festive season for products like mobile phones, e-tablets, consumer electronics, home appliances, home decor, furnishings, apparel and ornaments usually takes the upward graph. The report also suggests that online shopping boom is not restricted to metros alone; towns and cities like Lucknow, Ahmadabad, Jaipur, Dehradun, Nasik, Trichy rank among top online buying cities and the market is consistently growing.

Mukesh Bansal, CEO, myntra.com said, "There are some reports that suggest a slowdown while some suggest an upward trend in shopping spends by consumers. October and November are months of festivities for Indians, and we have seen a positive trend in consumers purchasing apparel and footwear for the season. We have launched the latest collection of ethnic and formal wear for both men and women from brands such as W, Aurelia, Mother Earth, Scullers, Indigo Nation, Indian Terrain etc."

Telling us about the factors that differentiate them form the others, Bansal said, "In order to provide an added advantage to the fashion conscious consumer, we're offering a 10% cashback on all of Autumn/winter 2011 collection available on Myntra.com. We're also adding new brands on a daily basis to make sure our consumers find the largest catalog of whatever fashion merchandise they're looking for on the website. We've also launched a brand campaign on television and print to bring new customers to our site, who are looking to shop for new attire for the festive season."

Hence, slowdown or no, shopper's will always be in a hunt for the best shopping spots offering the best deals. With the kind of deals and offers that e ' shopping portals propose today, they are turning out to be the new shopper's paradise!

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