I remember sometime back a friend of mine ordered a pair of spectacles on rediff shopping. The courier person delivered a parcel, collected the money and vanished. On opening the parcel my friend got the shock of his life when he saw a pair of spectacles broken and poorly packed. The courier nor rediff recieved calls or replied to mails to redress this issue.
I come to the conclusion that when we buy anything we want to have a look and feel of it and this is not possible on online purchase. The sincerity of the vendor is also important. Timeliness is paramount. There also has to be a cost benefit to the purchaser. All these are absent in any purchase online in India today.
Do you remember what happened to the first online shopping venture in India. It had to slowly move out to become a supermarket and finally bought out by another company and the name changed. You all know which brand I am talking about. Call me a cheerful pessimist. Online shopping will never take off in India in a big way. Even the manufacturers do not want to go this way because this amounts to harakiri. The traditional dealer networks will boycott your products.