With over 100 million net users in India, it only makes sense to launch an online portal for shopping. The catch however is to cater to very sensitive Indian customtakeouters with utmost good service and build some confidence.
Online shopping in India is still in initial stages but surely is gaining momentum. There were and are many sites who initially started online shopping but have failed to take off as expected. Reasons being inadequate service, low customtakeouter support, after sales service and reasonably low confidence of the customtakeouters. (Rediff shopping, Indiatimes shopping etc).
My first experience with online shopping was some 7/8 years back when my sister ordered Rakhees for a cousin brother in Kolhapur. We were charged Rs.700 for the gift set with some sweets. That order (booked online with Rediff) never reached Kolhapur and till date we have no record of what happened to that purchase. Many of us would agree that they had some or the other issue with these portals and their inadequate service. But, things are changing and they are changing fast and for the better. Now we have plethora of sites who offer various products and the convenience of home delivery. The fierce competition among these online portals is benefiting the customtakeouters in more ways than one!
"Better times are here to stay"
One of the sites that I have used recently for my shopping needs is "Flipkart" .
Initially, I ordered Stephanie Myers books (The Twilight series). My elder sister is great fan of the novel and I was not getting a full set of those books elsewhere. (Conventional shopping - visiting books stores). I checked with Flipkart and it was available and with huge discount too. With some slight hesitation, I ordered the books and kept my fingers crossed. (Had burned my fingers with Rediff in the past so was a bit apprehensive). Within minutes, I received the mail with all the information about my order and the delivery reference. (Actually, you can trace your shipment online with the reference numbers that you wold get once the order is placed - this is a great feature)
The delivery date was 5-7 days and I was just concerned about the quality of the books ordered, packaging, will they every deliver it?, will the books be original etc etc. One fine day, got an SMS that the shipment has left the Flipkart premises and would be delivered today at 1.00 PM! And BANG at 1.15 PM there was a fellow from Flipkart with the box!
I was extremely impressed with the packaging and the quality of the books being delivered!
(Due to this excellent service I ordered a Canon MX 357 printer (Costing Rs.11500 on Canon website.) with them. The printer was delivered before time and once again with superb packaging. The piece that they have delivered is an original Canon (Made in Korea) printer and is working fine till date (Touch wood)
Strange is the fact that the same printer was available on Canon’s website for Rs.11500 (When I checked) and FK got me the same product @ Rs.9000!
Some highlights of this portal:
1. Delivery time - they deliver on time as mentioned in the order.
Online status of the shipment available.
Courteous and professional staff.
Original products.
Excellent packaging.
SMS alerts of your order (they keep you updated about your order)
After sales service is good.
Discounts are available. (I don’t know how they manage that many discounts - Market penetration strategy?)
The only cons that I can manage to highlight is that you have wait for your product to be delivered to your door step. So it might be the case that you have ordered something and that you are out of city and that they might come on a day you won’t be able to receive them! ( As a matter of fact, you would receive SMS alert for the exact date of delivery, its just that you may not be able to make it to receive it!)
It was a breeze shopping with these people and must say that they will be the "King" in online shopping parlance. I am surely going to use their services in the future and expect their consistency at all times.
Caution: I am just a customtakeouter who had received good service from these people. So even if I am recommending them for your shopping needs, its advisable you to observe caution while buying online from them or anyone else.
Thank you for reading. Your comments are welcomed.
Keep shopping!