The importance of Indian e-commerce space is being recognised by retailers seeking opportunities to tap growing markets, which in the number of customers alone is potentially greater than the population of many European nations.
Amazon, one of the world’s e-commerce giants, has just entered directly with an Indian template, and will sell in rupees instead of dollars and pounds sterling. Of course, it has to compete with successful Indian models like Flipkart which are already well established among online buyers and are doing brisk business in India.
The convenience of e-commerce can’t be overstated. As Indians we have a wide choice today to buy international quality goods in rupee prices. Music is available digitally online, so too are apps and programs for digital devices; and the beauty is we can pay in Indian currency, that too at prices that relate far more to the rupee’s real value at home than its currently declining exchange rate.
Significantly, as more e-commerce entities enter India, more jobs may open up for young IT professionals who will have the added satisfaction of serving compatriots in their own language and idiom rather than being backroom boys for what are virtually BPO sweatshops. In cyberspace commerce, things are indeed looking up, and high-street shops, facing higher rents and taxes, will have to innovate in order to remain competitive. It’s in the fitness of things too that the consumer is the one who’ll finally have the last laugh.