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)
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)
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