A few months ago, when Rajesh Kiran could not find a book he wanted in the bookstores he found it available online at Amazon.com for $ 10. But he had to pay more than $ 9 extra rate as shipping fee for Amazon to send it to him.
Kiran, who's a software programmer, said he would not do it again. He now shops on something similar to the Amazon - FlipKart.com - a site which delivers books, phones and other items in just 24 hours at no additional cost. Kumar does not have to pay FlipKart a single dime until the courrier with the books came to his door. Then you can pay him through cash or credit card.
"I think it fits perfectly with the Indian mindset," Kiran.
Although dozens of electronic commerce companies have recently emerged on seeing the Internet growth in India, the Indians are not comfortable buying on the web. Many of them are reluctant to use credit cards online. So, Indian retailers have done everything to get customers. Customers can pay cash on delivery, and companies fields delivery squads to ensure customers receive shipments soon.
When a small delivery van arrived in the Koramangala section of Bangalore where the company started , from the company's warehouse, the men hurried to get two large duffel bags filled with packages and were placed on two tables in the house.
After the packets were scanned with a hand-held computers, they put the boxes into large backpacks, they carried them on their back and drove away in their bikes to deliver them.
Online sales still represent a small portion of overall retail spending - an estimate pins it at $ 10 billion, a small fraction of $ 500 billion retail market in India - but they are growing rapidly.
FlipKart said it had revenues of 500 million rupees ($11 million) in its last fiscal year, and now it is clocking sales of approximately 10 million rupees a day. SnapDeal.com, a site offering coupons similar to Groupon, expects sales of 1.5 billion rupees this year, compared to almost nothing last year. Top executives of the Future Group, the largest retailer in India, says its online sales every day are on pace to triple by March.
"This time it is for real," said Kishore Biyani, founder and CEO of Future Group, referring to the previous wave of e-commerce euphoria in early 2000s. "This is the most important thing to happen in India."
