Online Startups - Will They Change the Way Business Is Done in India?

ONLINE STARTUPS - WILL THEY CHANGE THE WAY BUSINESS IS DONE IN INDIA?

By

Neerja Bavishi

A Dissertation submitted to CRISIL

For the

CRISIL Young Thought Leader (CYTL) competition

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

• ABSTRACT

• TEXT

• Introduction
• Analysis of the Online Market Scenario – Durable and Non-durable goods
• Changing mind-set towards Online Stores
• Global outlook of e-commerce industry
• Online start-ups versus the Dot-com boom
• Future of the e-commerce industry

• BIBLIOGRAPHY

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURE 1: Comparison of the number of internet users globally and exclusively in countries such as US, India, China, Japan in 2011 and 2015 (projected).

Figure 2: Top ten reasons given by US and global shoppers for their preference towards online shopping. Also depicts the percentage of shoppers opting for a particular reason.

ABSTRACT

India is becoming a part of the technology-driven retail shopping transformation that is profoundly changing the purchase decision of the consumer with respect to the channel of purchase. Many online start-ups are coming up these days and they are attracting lot of investors. These stores span a huge spectra of durable and non-durable products catering to the complete needs of the consumers. They are constantly innovating their value propositions, thus keeping pace with consumer requirements. In the initial phase they focused on high-value durable goods, gradually moving towards daily required non-durable goods. They are tremendously increasing their market by delivering a plethora of products. The investors are also very interested in these upcoming online start-ups and they are investing huge amount of capital in them. Many of the brick and mortar stores are also plunging in this online space to incorporate multi-channeling and increase the visibility of their store globally by using internet. In the coming years the generations will become savvier, hence these online stores have very bright prospects. With the amalgamation of newer technology and customization, these stores can earn huge profits and also modernize the way consumers purchase various commodities.

TEXT

Introduction

India is at the third position in the world in terms of the number of internet users. As per the McKinsey & Company’s report on the ‘Online and upcoming: The Internet’s impact on India’, it has been stated that India is the third largest economy in the world in terms of the number of Internet users. It has also been predicted that India would grab the second spot by 2015 with a projected user base of around 370 million. [1] (See Figure 1) Due to this internet boom, in the recent times a lot of startups are coming up, which are thriving in the online retail space gradually. Many investors worldwide are showing tremendous interest in them and they are investing huge capital in them. Flipkart is the best example of the changing trends in e-retailing. Its journey from just a start-up to being India’s one of the biggest ‘online megastore’ is known to all. Other players such as amazon, myntra, snapdeal etc. are also attracting domestic as well as foreign investors. A wide spectra of products are available on these online stores accommodating every possible need of a consumer.