This caselet tries to summarize the evolution of eCommerce in India in the last two decades and lists the phases as observed.
Summary from Wikipedia article here:
- Internet user base of 600+ Million in India
- Rapid growth in eCommerce but eCommerce penetration as a percentage of internet users is low compared to US, China, France and so on
- Cash on delivery is the preferred mode for more than 70% of users
- Demand for international products is high
- Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, JioOnline, Multiple grocery vendors and specialized sellers in electronics, gifts, travel and more are the leading eCommerce entities
- Open Network for Digital Commerce is under pilot phase in India
- Online travel booking, apparel, retail, grocery, electronics, mobile, DTH, warehousing, logistics, food delivery, ride hailing, furniture, luxury, home maintenance & services, gifts, fashion are a large component of eCommerce in India
- COVID-19 created lot of upheaval in the models and sales in eCommerce
- Evolution into 10-30 minutes delivery, next day delivery and innovative models have seen an uptick in last 3-5 years
- Large number of investors have put in money into various entities over the last 10-15 years
- Niche players in automobile, apparel, grocery and similar areas have been coming up
- String of acquisitions / mergers have happened over the last 10 years especially from large players
- B2B eCommerce is growing quickly. Players like Bizongo, Udaan, Medikabazaar, Moglix, Ofbusiness and Inframarket are present.
- Major regulation rules include foreign players not allowed to hold inventory
Phases as observed in the last two decades:
- Standalone focussed players – early entrants – with less regulation
- High growth in number of eCommerce players
- Entry of investors
- Regulations evolving over time
- Shift of smaller sellers (many of them) to marketplaces
- Friction between online & offline sellers
- Hyper competitive growth with losses to capture market
- Enablement of financial ecosystem like UPI, RuPAY, QR, JanDhan, Cash on delivery models and so on
- Evolution of 4G and broadband
- Specialized and niche sellers
- IPOs for many specialized players
- Newer models of sales around delivery, bundling of additional facilities and so on
- Evolution of local logistics players
- Consolidation, closures & M&A across the industry
- Brand building, focus shift to a mature mindset and ecosystem
- Newer initiatives to standardize eCommerce like ONDC and preparation for 5G
References:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-commerce_in_India
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Network_for_Digital_Commerce
- https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-bytes/rapid-digitalisation-drives-b2b-ecommerce-during-pandemic/articleshow/88500483.cms
- Google News
Email me: Neil@HarwaniSystems.in
I am starting with mini caselets newsletter (once every month) which is a series of anonymous (real / hypothetical / reality inspired) mini case studies each of maximum 2 pages from my observations of industry happenings – direct / indirect / via news articles / network / friends / problems that people face and such. Intention of each mini caselet is to highlight a set of challenges that are faced both by managers & employees or hypothetically created leading to better leadership and management styles which in turn give better environment for employees or solutions or solution direction.
Think of a situation of an ITES company office in Tier-1 city which is recruiting lot of fresh talent and working on onboarding them to become productive in 2-3 months to deliver good projects.
What can go wrong?
- Disagreements between two set of managers who manage the same account / customer in the same shared office space of an extended development center each having competing teams
- Uneven knowledge transition to fresh candidates
- Silos & lack of functional knowledge for team
- Managers deciding how the behaviors of employees should be in terms of which interactions they should have and which to avoid based in older management & leadership principles from 80s/90s command and control structures
- Cultural differences in terms of recruitment geographies of candidates leading to differing work styles – For example, somebody studied and lived in a Tier 2 city in India vs. somebody who studied and lived in Tier 1 city in non India region – both will have differing goals and perspectives
- Culture of less knowledge sharing and long working hours
- Struggle for accommodation, food, entertainment, social circle and more with a very limited salary in year 1 in Tier-1 city
- Disengagement of support functions in terms of how work is done on the ground and them differing to managers for every decision
- Add to the mix competitive landscape to go onsite, climb the corporate ladder & increase salary quickly
- All this in the influence of 1.5/2 year retention contracts for fresh candidates when they can’t leave the firm easily
Now to solve this situation simply flip the scenario and fix each point one by one by interventions / trainings / guidance / discussions / role plays / similar techniques and you have a recipe for a better culture, it’s as simple as that.
Email me: Neil@HarwaniSystems.in
What are the essential components of the product ecosystem?
Some of them are shared with services like:
- Billing
- Engineering / Development
- Sales & Pre-sales
- Marketing
- Documentation
- Roadmap
- Legal
- Account management
- Support services like HR, Operations & Finance and so on
But others are unique to the product ecosystem like:
- Product features management
- Product roadmap
- Product strategy
- Engineering which is focussed on the product
- Infrastructure
- Partners & Suppliers
- Legal & privacy from product perspective
- Pricing
- Domain / functional areas
- Version management
- Product help & documentation ecosystem
- Partnership management
- Multi-geography taxation & legal requirements
- Customer Success & Services focussed on iterative feedback and improvements in product ecosystem
- Market analysis & segment creation
- Product support
- Specialized collaboration & product tools
- Product consulting
Email me: Neil@HarwaniSystems.in
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