E-commerce emerges inexpensive
It pays to buy gadgets online! Following a host of deals, coupon codes and factory price offerings by e-tailers, online customers have saved about Rs 42 crore in just one month.
This was possible as e-commerce players doled out 10 times more discounts than their offline counterparts.
This kind of discount, especially on mobile gadgets, works out to be just about 7-8 per cent above the factory selling price.
Against the sale of Rs 280 crore worth of electronic gadgets online across top 15 e-tailers during August, consumers saved Rs 42 crore, indicates an analysis of top 2,400 products sold through the 15 portals between July 15 and August 31, 2012.
“Indian consumers are hugely benefiting from free shipping, no additional credit card costs (that are common in offline retailers), free 3-month EMIs and other facilities – besides the low prices offered by e-commerce players,” says Mr Param Parameswaran, chairman of Sulekha.com, which undertook the study.
Any purchase made online is giving a savings of 11-15 per cent to consumers against their offline buy, the analysis reveals.
In the case of feature phones, the savings were the maximum with discounts up to 50-60% on the actual MRP whereas offline retailers offered only about 5-8 per cent discount. Smart phone purchases on e-commerce sites helped consumer save 15-20 per cent .
Deep discounts of e-commerce firms is possible because of their no warehouse model, explains Mr K.Vaitheeswaran, CEO of Indiaplaza.com. Banks too have a preferential treatment for e-commerce customers.
“As per our estimate, with 98 per cent of gadget sales happening offline, consumers can continue to save Rs 40-70 crore per month for the next 6 to 12 months,” says Mr Satya Prabhakar, CEO of Sulekha.com.
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