The quest to woo you: The online-offline retailer battle it out

E-commerce in India has been a contradiction of sorts. In a report in the Wall Street Journal , the Indian e-commerce industry is expected to grow to a little over $8 billion . That definitely seems to be a lot of money being splurged online. Myntra’s decision to shut its website in favour of an app-only strategy seems to underscore the (over) confidence of the industry at large.

Amidst the surge in optimism, there’s growing aggressiveness among brick-and-mortar businesses to increase their share of business. While earlier, offline stores had refused to service phones and devices purchased online, they now seem to have realised the importance of focussing on an online presence as well. In a report in The Economic Times , mobile phone retailers including The Mobile Store, UniverCell, Sangeetha Mobiles and Hotspot will offer guaranteed mobile phone deliveries by a sales executive within four hours of placing an order. The sales executive will also guide the consumer till the new device is fully operational.

According to the report, in addition to ensuring a timely delivery of the device, they would assist the buyer in migrating contacts to their new device as well as alter their SIM card since new devices usually accept only micro or nano SIM cards.

This seems to be a win-win for the consumer. Warranties have been a bone of contention for the e-commerce space in India. In the report on The Wall Street Journal, several original equipment manufacturers have expressed concern over the price drop by online retailers, and the inability to offer warranties on purchases done online.

Recently, e-Commerce major Snapdeal announced it will allow its users across 200 cities to pay through their credit and debit cards when they opt for pay-on-delivery option . Currently, e-commerce websites in the country allow only cash on delivery (COD) payment option. “The solution has been developed in partnership with GoJavas. Now customers can select the pay by card on delivery option, just like they would for COD. We are rolling this out in 120 cities,” Snapdeal Vice President Operations Ashish Chitravanshi told PTI.

Hopefully, with brick-and-mortar businesses getting more aggressive, and online businesses doing every bit to increase market share, customer experience in one of the most rapidly growing markets in the world – both online and offline – would only improve.