Emergence of new forms of retailing: e-retailing

Abstract

With the growth of Internet users in India, a new form of retailing has emerged, namely, E-retailing. The advantages of E-retailing over conventional retailing are that it is timesaving, provides integrated source of information, mass personalization and wider choice. As part of the study, an Industry analysis using Porter’s five forces model of the E-retailing in India was done. The results of the analysis indicated that the industry is “fairly attractive” with respect to the current players in the cases of threat of intense segment rivalry, threat of new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers and threat of substitutes. The industry is attractive in the case of bargaining power of buyers. Though the industry seems to be “fairly attractive” overall, these threats might influence the future growth. Suggestions for overcoming these threats are provided as part of the study. In order to study the consumer preferences towards online shopping and their attachment towards conventional retailers was studied with the help of primary research. The results indicated that consumers could be classified into four categories: “Regulars who often purchase online”, “Quality conscious individuals”, “Casuals, Not interested in shopping” and “Bargain hunters and old timers (stress on quality at low price)”. Recommendations are provided to concentrate on the first three categories of consumers with less stress on the fourth category. The recommendations encompassed four broad areas namely, product focus, consumer focus, technology focus and distribution focus. Recommendations for non-sales value added services, building the brand and overall strategy for E-retailing companies are provided.