Ecommerce Business and Investments

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With the smartphone market expanding each day with innumerable brands and a wide range of good phones to choose from, being spoilt for choice and confused while making up a final decision before buying a phone is normal. Phones which can match the standards and features of really expensive phones can be found within a budget as small as under 15,000 bucks.
With Rs 15,000 in your pockets and a plan to buy a new phone, all you need to do is skim through this list of 9 extraordinary smartphones which we think are value for money.

1) Xiaomi Mi3

Within seconds of its launch on Flipkart, Xiaomi Mi3 was out of stock. The online shopping portal which was the only dealer had 15,000 pieces on stock and sold out all of them in 2 seconds as soon as they launched the phone in the Indian market.
Well what makes the phone a must check before you buy is its good features at an unbelievable price of Rs 13,999. The phone has a 2GB RAM, a 5 inch full HD display, a 13 MP secondary camera and a 2MP front camera and a battery life of upto 21 hours. The 2.3 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 8274AB processor phone has almost all features that a highly priced phone in the Rs 30,000 bracket today has to offer.

2) Asus Zenfone 5

This dual SIM phone priced at around Rs 9,999 has a 2GB RAM and with a 5 inch HD display, has an inbuilt 1.6 GHz Intel dual core processor. Asus Zenfone 5 has an 8MP rear camera and a 2MP front camera and a battery life of upto 18 hours. A majority of the users of this phone have called it a complete value for money.

3) Lenovo S850

Available at a price of around Rs 14,850, the phone is rated by most of its users as a smoothly funtioning phone with a good design and great features. Packed with a 1.3GHz Quad Core processor, 1GB RAM, 5 inch HD display, a primary camera of 13MP and a secondary camera of 5MP which is a delightful feature to selfie addicts, the phone has a battery life of upto 13 hours.

4) Karbonn Titanium Octane Plus

Priced at Rs 12,899, this phone also comes with a 13 MP rear camera and a 5 MP front camera. The phone has a 5 inch HD display, a 1 GB RAM, a 1.7 GHz Octa-Core processor and a battery life of around 20 hours. The sleek and attractive design of this phone makes it a must check.

5) HTC Desire 516

With a 1.2 GHz Snapdragon processor but a not really great battery life of upto 9 hours, this phone could be one of your options because of its price and features. Available for around Rs 13,699, the phone has a 5 inch HD display, a 5 MP primary camera, a 2 MP secondary camera and a 1 GB RAM.

6) Panasonic P61

The Panasonic P61 available as a dual SIM phone is priced at Rs 13,540 and has a battery life of upto 10 hours. With a 1 GB RAM storage, 1.3 GHz Quad Core Processor and 6 inch HD display, this phone comes with a brilliant 8 MP primary and 2 MP secondary camera.

7) Moto G

Currently available only on Flipkart, this popular and exceptionally priced phone as the advertisements and its happy users claim is available for Rs 11,999 (16 GB price). The phone has runs on a 1 GB RAM and a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 Quad Core processor. It also has a great battery life of upto 24 hours and a primary as well as secondary camera of 5 MP and 1.3 MP respectively.

8) Xperia L

Not a very recent phone but currently priced at around Rs 13, 990, this phone is teamed up with a 1 GHz Dual Core Qualcomm Processor, a battery life of upto 9 hours, a 1GB RAM and a 4.3 inch HD display. The only drawback for selfie lovers could be its secondary camera which is of 0.3 MP unlike its 8 MP primary camera which produces pretty pictures.

9) Micromax unite 2 A106 

Starting from Rs 6,950, this Micromax phone along with its sleek and good looks comes with a 1.3 GHz Quad Core processor, a battery life which gives you upto 8 hours of talktime, a secondary as well as primary camera of 2 MP and 5 MP each, a RAM of 1GB and a 4.7 inch HD display.

Inspired by the gigantic success of the initial public offering (IPO) of Alibaba, Tata Group might be entering the e-commerce market in India. Media reports suggested that the Tata Industries Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Tata Sons could lead this venture into the online shopping sphere.

Tata group already has an online shopping platform through Croma, but building a brand and a platform similar to Flipkart or Amazon will let any seller list on the site and sell their goods.

A leading daily reported that people close to the new venture said that Tata is modeling its business on Tmall.com which is the marketplace in the Alibaba Group.

But as Tata Group gears up for the plunge into the e-commerce space, the former chairman Ratan Tata has put in his weight behind Snapdeal by investing into it.

Teens hanging around electronic stores for their favourite gadgets may not be a familiar sight soon as they are catching up fast with the e-tailing, according to a survey. However, they still want to spend time out munching their snacks with friends, instead of ordering online, a random survey conducted by Vivekanand Education Society's Institute of Management Studies and Research (VESIMSR) said. According to the survey, as many as 57% of the students prefer to do shopping online with 90% of them want to recommend it over traditional shopping on account of reasons like time-saving and vast options available online.

Among the online sellers, flipkart.com is the favourite among the students, it said. "E-tailing is the flavour of time and is going to decide the future course of shopping. We want our students, who are managers of tomorrow, to take some valuable lessons on e-commerce management and the survey has side-by-side threw up many interesting facts about e-tailing," said Satish Modh, director of VESIMR. The VESIMSR conducted the survey among 955 students of the professional colleges under Vivekanand Education Society (VES) which has 25 institutions and 18,000 students under its fold. As per the survey, 40% of them went online to buy electronic and apparels while 37% used online services to pay the bills and recharging. Interestingly, only one % of them used online portals to order food and beverages.

Soon, your regular postman may start to deliver products you have ordered online, through Cash on Delivery (CoD).


India Post would work with Flipkart, Snapdeal, eBay, Star CJ, etc. to deliver products right from vendors to customers.

With over 1,55,000 post offices across India, the e-commerce sites opt for private courier services to deliver goods. But for areas where private couriers cannot be reached, India Post is the answer.

"Discussions are on with eBay, Snapdeal, Flipkart, Star CJ, etc, to deliver parcels booked online through our system. This will be on CoD model," informed a senior official from India Post.

The talk is in the initial stages, so a final call is yet to be taken.

To keep a track of parcels, a customised software may be developed for efficient delivery. However, a schedule date to launch the service is yet to be finalised. In December 2013, tie-up of Amazon with India Post, to begin cash on delivery on pilot basis was announced on Speed Post network of India Post. Now, competitors are following suit.

India Post has witnessed a dip in the delivery of letters due to the Internet and private courier agencies. The department has been trying to reinvent itself in many ways.

In rural India, there's a post office for every 5,682 people. Furthermore, it already has Express Parcel service fast and economical contractual parcel service.

Post-it:
Over 1.54 lakh post offices in India
One post office for every 7,176 people
One post office for every 5,682 people in rural India

Be it dry fruit for Diwali or dazzling deals on household wares on Dhanteras – all your festive shopping indulgences are just a click away with online retailers vying with one another to catch eyeballs of customers. Good news is that the online shopping carnival will continue as the government does not plan to impose any regulation on the sector as of now, unless consumers interests are compromised in any way.

Ending speculation about imminent regulations in the wake of alleged irregularities after Flipkart's Big Billion day sale earlier this month, a highly placed source in the finance ministry said, "It is not the government's job to regulate businesses in a free-market economy. However, unfair trade practices will not be spared."

After the Flipkart's Big Billion day, a group of organised retailers had approached the ministry of commerce accusing the portal of getting into the unfair trade practice of predatory prices. A commerce ministry official told dna, "Look, ultimately it is a contract between a buyer and a seller, and the government cannot do anything about it. A redressal mechanism is available if consumer interests are in any way compromised." On the Big Billion day, Flipkart clocked Rs 600 crore in the first 10 hours of the sale, thereby achieving the 24-hour target in less than half of the time.

Commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said that no enquiry is being planned or proposed in the Big Billion day sales of Flipkart.

The US online major Amazon is now tapping the Dhanteras rush, and is offering a range of products from dry fruit hampers at 10-30% discount and home and kitchen ware deals of up to 65%. For example, Amazon offered 500 gram dry fruit gift box priced at Rs 1,350 at Rs 945 today – a discount of 30%. Amazon did not disclose the sales figures for the Dhanteras sales when contacted by dna.

Meanwhile, experts believe that the e-tailing business is an interesting alternative channel which is emerging. Though it will not attain the retail proportion, its presence will significantly grow in the next few years. Arvind Singhal, chairman and managing director, Technopak – a retail consultancy firm told dna, "The e-tailing is at a taking-off stage in India. The numbers are small compared with the overall spending. By 2020, the e-tail market will be just about $32 billion, which will be 3% of the overall retail market of $1,100 billion." According to Technopak, the current e-tail market in India is worth $2.3billion.

Mobile phone, especially smart phone penetration is the key game-changing event for the e-commerce business. "The increasing adoption of devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops, and access to the internet through broadband, 3G, has contributed to the rapid growth of the online consumer base. India's Internet user base is expected to reach 550 million, by 2020, with a penetration of nearly 40%, from the current estimated base of 243 million and penetration of 19%," said Technopak in a recent report.

E-tail started in India in the late 1990s but most of them could not survive the dotcom boom and bust of 2000. The second wave of e-tailing emerged in 2007.

 Experts too say firms are obliged to give warranty/guarantee on products irrespective of where they are sold

Hitting back at certain consumer electronics manufacturers that have been dissuading buyers from purchasing products on e-commerce platforms, Flipkart – India's largest e-marketplace operator – said it allows sale of only original products covered by replacement policies and manufacturers’ warranty. “The original products with an official invoice with all taxes paid cannot be denied warranties,” Flipkart spokesperson said responding to dna queries.

On the pretext of calling the e-marketplaces like Flipkart, Amazon India, Snapdeal, eBay India as 'not authorised resellers' of their products, consumer electronics manufacturers like Sony, LG, HP, Nikon, Lenovo, Dell, etc. have on their respective websites said they cannot vouch for the genuineness of products sold on these e-marketplaces and hence the consumer's right to warranty coverage and support on those products could be impacted.

What these consumer electronics manufacturers are indirectly trying to say is that they won't take responsibility, if something goes wrong with the product being bought from the e-marketplaces that are offering them at significant discounts. In fact, the companies are also seem to be alleging that products sold on the e-marketplaces are 'fake'.

For instance, in an advisory dated October 6, 2014, LG India informed customers that it 'has not authorised any e-commerce company / web portal to sell LG product(s) – television and audio products, home appliances, air-conditioners and mobiles in India for and/or on behalf of the company. The company does not take responsibility for the genuineness of an LG product(s) sold through any of the e-commerce companies/web portals in India, and thus, the company retains the right of not extending additional services/warranties to such LG product(s). LG product(s) can also be booked online directly at the company’s website (www.lgbrandstore.com/in) which is the authorized website for online purchase of all LG product(s) in India.'

LG India officials did not respond to dna queries and clarifications sought on the aforesaid advisory which was spotted by Nithin Jawali at a physical electronics store, a picture was posted by him on twitter -- https://twitter.com/Nithin/status/521993062566739970.

Commenting on the warranty / guarantee issue, Amazon's director of categroy management, Samir Kumar, said, the e-marketplace takes pride in claiming that it sells genuine products. “We ensure vendors on our maketplace are selling genuine products and if any vendor isn't, we will take them out of our network. Brands and manufacturers are obligated to honour the warranty if products sold are genuine.

"We also take a very customer backward approach in case anything happens to products bought from our e-marketplace and back it up with what we call the 'a to z guarantee', wherein we take care of any issue that a customer might face from a brand or a vendor,” he said.

eBay India on its part said that sellers who put up the listings of their products are governed by what they state as description and specification for their items, which at times may include manufacturer’s warranty as well. “We have rarely come across instances where manufacturers have refused to honour warranty services. In case a buyer claims manufacturer warranty for a product purchased from a seller on eBay India, the buyer is expected to coordinate with authorised service center of the manufacturer of the product to avail the warranty.

"If such an instance does occur, then as a responsible ecommerce player, we coordinate with the seller and the buyer to arrive at a resolution,” said Girish Huria, official spokesperson, eBay India. He added that manufacturers denying honouring warranty on the ground that a consumer has not purchased their product from the authorised outlet of the manufacturer (even if such purchase falls within the warranty period) ultimately affects the interest of consumers.

Retail industry experts are of the opinion that, it's a matter of public interest litigation (PIL) and customers / consumer groups can take the consumer electronics manufacturers to court for not extending warranty / guarantee on products sold on e-marketplaces.

“It does not matter what price I have paid or for that matter where have I bought the product from i.e. offline, online or e-marketplaces. The companies are obliged to give warranty / guarantee on all the products manufactured by them. The only exception can be if the customer has bought a fake product,” said Arvind Singhal, chairman and managing director, Technopak (a specialist retail industry consultancy and advisory).

Queries seeking responses on the warranty / guarantee issue from consumer electronics companies like Sony India, LG, Videocon, VU Technologies, ASUS, remained unanswered at the time of going to print.
However, among few consumer electronics companies supporting the e-marketplaces are Samsung India, Panasonic India and HTC.

Commenting on the issue, Manish Sharma, managing director, Panasonic India, said, “As a philosophy, for us the customer comes first and e-tailers provide us with one more channel to cater to customer needs and focus on customer satisfaction, which is of utmost importance to us.”

Chia-Lin Chang, president of global sales and chief financial officer, HTC, on Friday (October 17, 2014) announced exclusive partnerships with e-marketplaces like Amazon.in (for HTC Desire 820 and 820q) and Snapdeal.com (for HTC Desire 516c dual sim and little camera RE). Responding to market concerns on the warranty / guarantee issue, Chang assured, “HTC will honour all responsibilities.”

Rajiv Mishra, vice president (media) and spokesperson, Samsung India said that the company management has kept its ears close to the ground and has been regularly monitoring the developments in both the online and offline retail space. “A key stakeholder in our growth strategy, the interest of our business partners is of prime importance to us. We have been able to successfully manage expectations across channel partners by ensuring that their interests are well taken care of and will continue with the same strategy in the future,” he said.

Officials from Snapdeal did not respond to queries seeking clarity on the warranty / guarantee issue as well as concerns on predatory pricing being expressed offline retailers as well as consumer electronics manufacturers post the 'Big Billion Day' and 'Diwali Dhamaka' sale announced by Flipkart and Amazon India respectively.

Taking cognisance of the 'predatory pricing' by e-tailing firms, the Consumer Electronics & Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) has asked the government to implement the goods and services tax (GST) so that e-tailing firms can not take 'undue advantage' of operating from low tax geographical regions.

Flipkart on its part, clarified that its e-marketplace was a facilitator of building efficiencies in the supply chain for sellers and that it was 'not the sellers of a product'. “We are an online e-marketplace helping sellers (who might not have a brand and resources to own a showroom in a prime locality) take advantage of the efficiencies in our technology and supply-chain, enabling them to sell their products across the country without having to step out of their workplace. Only the seller can decide the price and only s/he can change it in our system,” the Flipkart spokesperson said.

On the alleged violations of FDI (foreign direct investment) rules in online retail business, the Flipkart spokesperson said, “The authorities are doing their job and we will cooperate with them where required.” As for reports on the possibility of a fine of Rs 1,000 crore, the Enforcement Directorate clarified that no probe has been launched into the massive discount sale.

 Delivery system gasps for breath on order deluge. Delays are leading to buyers cancelling orders

Salim Ahmed wanted to celebrate his first wedding anniversary by gifting an LED television to his wife. Given the euphoria surrounding e-retailing coupled with attractive offers by various e-marketplaces, he decided to take the e-commerce approach instead of making the purchase from a physical consumer electronics retail store.

After comparing rates across various e-marketplaces, he booked a 32 inch television from Snapdeal.com which was offering the best rate. “While it was mentioned on their website that the product shall be delivered within 4-5 days, it took around 10 days – well past my wedding anniversary – for the television to reach my residence thus leaving my wife furious,” he said.

That's not all. In another purchase, Ahmed bought a mobile handset for his sister from eBay wherein the delivery time-frame mentioned by the marketplace operator was within four days. The handset was purchased on October 13, 2014 but it hasn't reached him yet.

“I called eBay's customer care number a few days ago and the executive 'advised' me to wait till October 22, 2014. On Tuesday, I called up Blue Dart customer care, which is suppose to deliver the product, and the lady executive stated that it will take another 4-5 days, as the product I have ordered could not get linked up for delivery, due to heavy pressure which started from the onset of Dushera,” said Ahmed.

The Blue Dart customer care executive informed further that except Flipkart (which has its own delivery system), all other e-tailers were facing a similar problem. In fact, the customer care executive also said that many customers are now refusing to accept the delivery due to delays.

“A lot of customers bought products to coincide with the auspicious Diwali festival. However, due to delays now, many feel they have been let down by the e-marketplace operator,” said the executive.

Salim is among the scores of e-shoppers (who have either witnessed a delay in receiving products purchased from e-marketplaces or are still awaiting the products to reach their residence. In fact, dna has learnt that a significant number of consignments are either piled up (across various locations) at the logistics services provider's end.

The reasons cited was either the logistics firm wasn't able to handle the huge number of despatches / deliveries or the consignments have been sealed by sales tax authorities (in certain states) citing non-payment of value-added-tax (VAT).

In fact, courier delivery services company FedEx is currently facing trouble delivering around 6,000 odd products bought from various e-commerce websites in the city of Patna in Bihar. “The consignment has been sealed by the sales tax authorities who are demanding payment of VAT on the goods to be delivered. Efforts are being made to speed-up the process but we are still not sure how long it will take for this issue to be resolved,” said a FedEx executive.

Speaking to dna, Agra-based promoters of a handicrafts trading company Stonkraft, Nitin Gupta and Sachin Gupta, who use e-marketplaces like Amazon, Snapdeal, Flipkart, eBay etc to sell their products said, the market response during the festive season has been very good.

“What is really heartening is that despite a small company we have received orders worth almost 20 times the same period last year. The handicrafts are sourced from Uttar Pradesh that levies no VAT on the products. The irony however, is that our despatches are now stuck in certain locations especially Bihar for the last 15 days owing to VAT issue. Similar problems also exist in states like West Bengal, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka. We are making our customers aware about the issue and hope to get this resolved,” said the Stonkraft promoters.

While e-marketplace operators like Amazon India, Jabong, eBay India, did not revert to queries seeking responses on the subject. Snapdeal said there were possibilities of delays due to heavy traffic at the logistics service providers' end.

According to Aakash Moondhra, chief financial officer, Snapdeal.com, this Diwali season online markets and e-commerce sites have seen a huge increase in traffic. “We have seen a multi-fold growth in our orders. With the increase in order volumes the delivery maybe impacted due to unprecedented delivery demands on the logistics companies. We have not seen delay in our deliveries due to any taxation issues or confiscation though,” said Moondhra.

A Flipkart spokesperson said that sellers from across the country sell their products on its e-marketplace and that MSME's scale their business to a national level without having to step out of their workplace. “On our marketplace products are sold in compliance with various laws. We clearly mandate to our sellers that they sell products in accordance with applicable laws. The taxes are paid as per the commercial taxes rules i.e. at the point of sale,” the spokesperson said.

The e-commerce industry, Moondhra said, is growing rapidly and is expected to grow to a $50 to $70 billion industry in the next five years and it will employ millions of people. “The logistics industry will also continue to grow to match this. Goods and Service Tax (GST) implementation will play a critical role in determining how fast the industry grows,” he added.

Interestingly, the delayed despatch / delivery issue is not restricted to e-marketplace operators and is true for those selling products through tele-shopping networks and some consumer electronics retail stores as well.

Ankur Tanna, a resident of Thane, bought a magic mop from Star CJ Alive on Sunday morning and received text message by evening that the consignment has been shipped and that he should keep the money ready. “I was hoping to receive the product by Monday afternoon but that didn't happen. Calls to the landline number shared on the text message did not elicit a response,” he said.

On Tuesday, he called the toll-free number for a status and was told that the product will be delivered before 6 pm the same day. “I haven't heard from them nor have I received the product as yet. Thankfully, it's a cash-on-delivery transaction so I have the option to cancel the order if it doesn't reach me within this week,” he said.

Similarly, Dinesh Lad bought an electronic appliance from Tata Group's consumer electronics store Croma and was promised delivery on Sunday i.e. October 20, 2014. “We didn't step out of the house to avoid missing the delivery. However, we were told late evening that the delivery would happen the next day. We wanted the appliance for a specific occasion and hence cancelled the purchase and sought a refund,” said Lad.

(Some buyer names have been changed)

IAF personnel and their families have been asked to desist from using Chinese 'Xiaomi Redmi 1s' phones as these are believed to be transferring data to their servers in China and could be a security risk."F-secure, a leading security solution company, recently carried out a test of Xiaomi Redmi 1s, the company's budget smartphone, and found that the phone was forwarding carrier name, phone number, IMEI (the device identifier) plus numbers from address book and text messages back to Beijing," says an advisory issued by the IAF to its personnel.

The IAF note, issued some weeks back, has been prepared by the intelligence unit based on the inputs from Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), according to IAF sources. Emails were sent by PTI to the company for its response on this development but those remained unanswered. However, in a general statement two days back, the company had said it was fully committed to storing its users' data securely at all times.

The company said it is migrating some data on non-Chinese customers away from its servers in Beijing due to performance and privacy considerations. It said that earlier this year, its e-commerce engineering teams started migrating its global e-commerce platforms and user data for all international users from their Beijing data centers to Amazon AWS data centers in California (USA) and Singapore.

This migration process will be completed by the end of October and will benefit users in all of our international markets — Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan. Incidentally, the Taiwanese government is investigating whether Xiaomi Inc is a cyber security threat due to privacy issues.

The e-commerce industry is worth US $13 billion currently and is expected to touch US $90 billion by 2021, according to eTailing India Founder Ashish Jhalani. This 700% growth will change the way organisations allocate internet advertising budgets in India, eTailing India Jhalani said in a statement here on Thursday.

"E-commerce is a full-fledged industry today, from being ancillary part of the retail industry less than a few years ago. Much like Apple changed the music industry, e-commerce will not only impact retail, but also the advertising industry, Jhalani said. Shoppers in India are increasingly using smartphones to buy products; sites such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and Shopclues have reported that that up to 35% of their traffic comes from the mobile phone.

With the high penetration of phones in India and improving internet connectivity, e-commerce firms are expected to reach millions of new users in the coming years, he said. In line with the growth of e-commerce, one-third of the world's advertising revenue is also expected to go digital by 2018, Jhalani said. At a recent conference, Google India declared that Indian internet users will surpass the number in the US by the end of 2014 and around 500 million people will be online by 2018.