![]() | #5206 | ||
Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Gurgaon
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![]() If your convenience implies lower efficiencies for the agency, then you'll have to pay for it. Most wont! Quote:
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![]() | #5207 |
BANNED | ![]() Food for thought: https://www.techinasia.com/alibaba-vs-amazon-in-india Here's my take: Vaitheeswaran Kothandaraman - IndiaPlaza - in some sense the Father of e Commerce in India. Honest Profitability and keeping costs sensible and doing their best to deliver consistent convenience and quality consumer experience was what he was building, step by step. Then the Great Erudite Gods of the VC community popped up with the “Acquire Consumer at any Cost through Deep Discounting” Mantra and everything has simply gone pear shaped, as a pure business prospect. Consumers had a lot of fun, yes. But typical of the Pavlovian Syndrome, the consumers got used to Deep Discounts and were literally being bribed to be loyal. Instead of creating a sensible, discerning and premium consumer base, the e Com majors have gone and created their own Deal Distracted, Brand Promiscuous Frankensteins. Instead of differentiating by experience, convenience and technology, each e Com major vied with the other, to chuck more and more money down into the unplumbable depths and feed the insatiable appetites of the monster. No wonder the money well dried up and the self same Erudite VC’s suddenly started talking about “Path to Profitability” and all the rest of it (basically started spouting all the common sense that almost all the older economy companies had been practising for years and years, as if it was some new discovery of theirs!) So now, the last frontier of India remains, for two gargantuan deep pocketed monsters to sit and slug it out in an epic slug fest. Lets sit and watch - after all, we have the ring side seats! |
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![]() | #5208 |
Team-BHP Support ![]() ![]() Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Bangalore
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| ![]() I have a really simple question (well, it sounded simple in my head ![]() Why would anyone presume they can create a 'captive' customer in a free market, and that such customers will one day suddenly (and willingly) shift from cheap-as-peanuts deals to paying 'real market value' for the same stuff? Plenty of people with a lot of money seem to be operating on that premise, so there must be some sense in there I'm missing out on? And if 'enough of the deals, now back to real prices' ever happens, what stops a customer from shifting back to buying stuff from places where they can actually 'experience' the product before purchase? Today's deals work primarily because of the discounts (convenience the obvious other reason) and it's arguable if the online 'deal' is the same as given by a B&M store, the layman customer may prefer the latter source, at least for high-value purchases. Last edited by Chetan_Rao : 6th February 2017 at 20:10. |
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![]() | #5209 | |||
Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Bangalore
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We know the price of a product = raw material cost + direct costs + overheads + cost of inefficiencies + margin. Many e-commerce guys, for various reasons, take the margin down to 0 or negative to keep the price low. Others try to minimise one or several of the remaining terms (eg: Uber reduces cost of inefficiencies and overheads). Quote:
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![]() | #5210 |
Team-BHP Support ![]() ![]() Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Bangalore
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| ![]() @binand Difficult to quote bits on a cellphone so excuse the separate post. Makes sense on the whole, but what I find missing (in the market, not in your reasoning) is the push to be sustainable, which is a basic requirement irrespective of the sales/logistics channel in use, or so one would think. Lack of some logistical overheads can't alone justify the kind of 'deals' on offer. Most e-tailers seem to actually be going downhill on customer experience too (Amazon may be an exception to a certain extent), so I really struggle to see how any of these will be able to hold onto their customer base once the deals go away. Apple is a perfect example of a captive consumer environment, but they provide an overall unmatched customer experience to sustain that model. Who would be a relevant example in the e-retail space, if any? Not an apple to apple comparison (pun unintended), but most in the e-retail space don't seem to have a plan after they capture the market. |
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![]() | #5211 | |||
Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Bangalore
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- Offer well-publicized deals to bring buyers and incentives, technical assistance etc. to bring sellers into your marketplace. - Reduce inventory and logistics costs. - Be frugal; keep salaries and overheads as low as possible. - Generate alternate revenue streams. - [other points] I personally don't have a problem with deals if the cost of the deals are coming from allocated marketing or sales promotion budgets. That mode of operation does not lead to big risks (of course, analysis of the impact of the deal must be done). It is when all (or most of) the capital available to you is dedicated to running these deals that you have a problem. Getting back on topic, I find Amazon ticks all the above boxes, some others some of these boxes, but the vast majority probably don't tick any. This is where these folks then are going wrong. Quote:
Maybe that didn't come out well, so let us take the example of our tax filing sites. I don't use them, but I suppose once you start using such a portal you return there year after year (they have your historic information and - though not strictly true - can make your IT return filing simpler). So their customer base is reasonably captive, is it not? But those customers transact only once a year; and they don't have much of a chance to improve their repeat purchase rate. So to grow year after year, they necessarily have to acquire more and more customers - their focus therefore should be on acquisition and not on building a captive base. They could diversify into other taxation-related activities, offer invoicing as a service and deal with ST/VAT filings, manage your exemptions and deductions, and a plethora of other activities. Presumably each of these companies have a roadmap in which some (or all) of the above figure and will be released to the public in the near future. Second, the comparison with Apple is not really fair; as they have been in business for many decades (and though less relevant for this discussion, bulk of that time helmed by one of the greatest businessmen the world has seen). Our e-retail guys have only maybe half a decade of operational experience at the median. But are there companies that show promise? I think there are, but it would be presumptuous of me to list them here. :-) | |||
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![]() | #5212 |
Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Bangalore
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| ![]() What is the amazon return policy for seller full filled items? Do the customer need to pay for the return shipment? Also it seems the seller has to approve your refund request to proceed. Extremely tricky for fashion items. I purchased a wallet and it is not as per the photos and the finish seems to be different. Now how can I convince the seller, that this is not I wanted and secure a refund? |
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![]() | #5213 | ||||
Team-BHP Support ![]() ![]() Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Bangalore
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Some of our e-retail biggies may be reaching the point where investors start looking at returns instead of throwing money down a bottomless pit in the hope of 'future gains' which may not materialize. Quote:
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Last edited by Chetan_Rao : 7th February 2017 at 13:54. | ||||
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![]() | #5214 |
Team-BHP Support ![]() Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Gurgaon
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| ![]() Guys, need suggestion on Urban Ladder and Pepper fry? I need to order some beds and other household stuff. Am looking something in Wood and of high quality. |
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![]() | #5215 |
Distinguished - BHPian ![]() ![]() Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Chennai
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It is hard enough to tell the quality of furniture when you are looking directly at it. A lot of covered sofas have cheap and roughly-made ply, or even chipboard, under the surface. Even "wooden" items may not be very "wooden" underneath the veneer! |
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![]() | #5216 | ||
Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: SG
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Urban Ladder has their own factory I believe and themself manufacture the furniture. Recently bought a TV Unit from them and it was okay dokey. The fit was decent but I have better experience from Godrej Interio and Home stop. Recently purchased a Sofa set and Dining table from Godrej Interio and hence the reference for the comparo. It might not be an apple to apple comparison as the TV unit is made of Particle board where as Dining table is solid wood. Another place I have experimented is a website called woodenstreet.com Have ordered a Queen size bed and bed side tables from them. Not yet delivered. The products seemed good. All are solid wood items. Their delivery time is longer though and the furniture is manufactiured in rajasthan and shipped across the country. Can give a better picture only once I recieve the items. | ||
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![]() | #5217 | |
Team-BHP Support ![]() Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Gurgaon
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https://www.pepperfry.com/duvall-kin...2.html?src=mnc | |
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![]() | #5218 | ||
Distinguished - BHPian ![]() ![]() | ![]() Quote:
I bought a dining table and accompanying chairs via them 5 years ago, and am extremely satisfied with the furniture, particularly with the chairs, which are nice and solid, unlike a lot of the flimsy wooden chairs that we find in newer furniture shops. Delivery experience and assembly (of the dining table) was really good. The chairs came as-is and were not assembled on-site, which - in my opinion - also made a difference in their solidity. Quote:
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![]() | #5219 | |
Distinguished - BHPian ![]() ![]() Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Chennai
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![]() | #5220 |
Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 2,958
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