Is E-commerce in India killing Brick & Mortar Business?

[PrabhatP]

E-Commerce in India is growing massively and to some extent is killing Brick & Mortar Business. But It is also opening new opportunities for brick & mortar businesses in the supply chain where they can get benefit in terms of modern techniques and technologies. So its win win situation for all the payers and ultimately for the end consumers.

[saurabh0770]

No, E-commerce in India is not Killing any Brick & Mortar Business. People should take it positively, that it really gave a new dimension to Indian Market. Earlier, where people had limited varieties/reach to the products now they can buy any product, anytime irrespective to any geographical boundaries. Moreover, it gave a huge opportunity for retailers to sell widely their products across India without any limit. They are earning more and more by this channel. For example, earlier, the manufacturers of Banarasi Sarees, need to sell their products to mediators, but now revolution of e-commerce gave them an opportunity to sell their products by their own by displacing mediators, which really helps them to earn more and live a better life than earlier.

[lovneeshscmhrd]

E- Commerce industry is one of the most rapid growing sector in India, which is estimated to grow to $22 billion in five years from $3 billion currently. But this accounts for only 1% of the total retail market. India being a country where the internet penetration is still low and people still not trust the online retailers, they prefer to buy products from brick and mortar store. Some of the reasons why E- commerce cant take place of B&M stores in the near future are:
1. The customers prefer to buy items from the shops they visit frequently and E-tailing sites have a long way to go, to gain the trust of thee consumers.
2. The time taken for a product to be delivered is a major turn off for some of the consumers.
3. The shopping experience provided in a store is unmatched , the stores provide a personal touch to the consumers by helping them choose a product.
4. Internet penetration is about 15% of the population which majorly resides in urban cities, so the people who do not have access to internet shop from the B&M stores.

[abhinavscmhrd]

With a large internet presence, and with increasing internet penetration in India, a larger section of the society believes in shopping in e-tail stores, rather than in retail stores. The reason being cost effectiveness and ease of accessibility.
India has close to 10 million online shoppers and it is increasing at a CAGR of about 30%. Due to various factors like increasing broadband accessibility, availability of much wider product range, easy to compare products and higher discounts, people are shifting from buying the products from retail stores to online marketplace like flipkart, amazon, myntra, snapdeal etc
To some extent, the presence of e-commerce is affecting the business of brick and mortar stores, but it also depends on the kind of industry being considered. Electronic instruments, washing machine, watches and furniture will still hold importance in brick and mortar stores as they provide the user with live shopping experience, but products like book, mobile phone, shoes, computer accessories etc are preferred to be purchased from e-tail stores as these products provide wide range of options to chose from.
As with the passage of time, it is expected that the rate of purchase from e-commerce websites would increase as it provide users the flexibility to chose from a large range of products, and also at the same time provides heavy discount on the same.
Due to changing lifestyle and time constraint, a large number of people are shifting to mobile devices and make purchases from the same. With increasing consumer confidence on e-commerce websites, it is highly likely that these websites may give tough competition to the brick and mortar stores and may lead to higher market share in the future.

[amberscmhrd]

Yes in the present world e-commerce is absolutely killing bricks and mortar business in India but that is limited to certain types of products. And those retailers are having a huge loss with the coming of e-commerce in India. Products like cosmetics, books, electronic gadgets are getting popular on e-commerce due to less price and discounts which retailers cant provide but at the same time there are certain products like eatables, jewelry etc which are not getting response in e-commerce that might be because the price is high and customers can be cheated and they want to look the product and then buy.
But for products that are giving huge profits to e-commerce, Will Brick and Mortar disappear entirely? No. We'll always need certain types of walk-in retail, and some types of businesses will be more resistant than others.

[amberscmhrd]

Yes in the present world e-commerce is absolutely killing bricks and mortar business in India but that is limited to certain types of products. And those retailers are having a huge loss with the coming of e-commerce in India. Products like cosmetics, books, electronic gadgets are getting popular on e-commerce due to less price and discounts which retailers cant provide but at the same time there are certain products like eatables, jewelry etc which are not getting response in e-commerce that might be because the price is high and customers can be cheated and they want to look the product and then buy.
But for products that are giving huge profits to e-commerce, Will Brick and Mortar disappear entirely? No. We'll always need certain types of walk-in retail, and some types of businesses will be more resistant than others.

[sibascmhrd]

E-commerce is not killing the brick and mortar industry in India for a few reasons:
(1) The e-commerce model in India in the truest sense isn’t core e-commerce as firms like Flipkart and Amazon are not holding companies. It is market place model which enables brick and mortar shops to sell on the e-commerce portals as well. These actually opens up them to an untapped market which they would not have been able to reach otherwise beyond their local markets
(2) The indian culture is very different that from the western market and as such people would still trust the local kirana stores for many products instead of ordering online
(3) As Darwin said, in the struggle for survival only the * survive and as such this competition would only make the brick and mortar industry better as they strive to improve service and offerings
(4) Business is in a continuous state of evolution and every industry including the brick and mortar industry needs to adapt. If not e-commerce something else might come up to challenge their might. So e-commerce shouldn’t be considered the reason their demise

[amolss3]

No, e-commerce is not killing brick-and-mortar. Changing business models are hurting some retailers, while others are thriving.
This is not new. For more than a century, retailers have had to change with the times or lose their customer base. Whether it was the big fight in the early and mid-20th century against chain stores (there was actual legislation), or the cries in the later 20th century against so-called Big Box stores and WalMart, or the backlash against online music distribution and Amazon-like e-commerce, there's always been change and pushback by those threatened by change.
As long as there are pepper-sprayin' mamas willing to dive head first into crowds of WalMart shoppers in order to score cheap XBox 360s, the full-contact, hands-on, brick-and-mortar shopping spirit will remain alive and well.

[nitis]

E-Commerce in India is expanding like anything.The customers base to which it is catering to is really growing large.Now days each and every one of us wants to buy online and don't want to go to a brick mortar store to buy a product.So the situation has come to a point that the E-Commerce players are leaving behind the brick and mortar stores in terms of sales and customer ratings and comfort.In India,Amazon and Flipkart are the big two which are capturing the Indian e-commerce market.Besides them we have Snapdeal,Jabong,Myntra,Yebhi etc.These websites are also used by the customers to buy their products,but the major buying is done on the big two websites.

When we go ten years back and talk about the E-Commerce players,we really can't see or perceive anything about E-Commerce industry.The E-Commerce industry didn't grew at that time.It is just from the last ten years when the E-Commerce industry has stepped into the Indian market. Flipkart and Amazon are recognized as giants in E-Commerce industry in India.They both are the most popular e-commerce website from where the customers are purchasing the products online.Well,your product is just a click away.You just click the button of the mouse and the product reached your doorstep.This is the satisfaction a customer gets when he buys the products from an E-Tailer rather than a brick and mortar store.Now with the increasing penetration of internet with everybody using the internet,the E-Commerce has got a big boost in terms of sales,revenue and finally the customer base.Around ten years back,it was not like this.We used to have a brick and mortar store,from where all the customers used to buy every product they wants.These stores have actually enjoyed the pitfall of customers for a very long time.But now these stores are diminishing rapidly,mainly in the metropolitan cities where Supermarkets and E-Commerce have captured the customers base.

So as the Indian population is growing at a fast rate,the people are also moving from a "tiresome shopping experience" to "a just a click away shopping experience".This is due to the reason of the globalization of our country with the new technologies entering the Indian market.The people are also now days busy with their jobs, so they don't actually have the time to go to a shopping store and shop there.What the mentality of people have become today is to buy everything online.The reason behind that is the low price and the ease of comfortable delivery.One day you order your product and the next day it reaches your home.This is what Flipkart and Amazon are doing from the last ten years in India.So these e-commerce players are attracting a lot of people due to their so called amazing shopping experience.So these websites are literally killing the brick and mortar businesses.The kirana store which is found at each and every street in a city is slowly seen as a diminished entity because the people's new attraction are the E-Commerce websites.But the truth is that the business of a kirana store will not stop ever.This is because the common man who is not so rich will always buy from them.It is only the Internet generation that is attracted to these E-Commerce websites.But the fate of brick and mortar business doesn't look good.


Now days each and every product is available on e-commerce websites.You will get all products ranging from a pen drive to an i-phone.The main categories of products which is found are electronic gadgets and accessories,books,fashion stuff,bags etc.But the varieties and the price range which you would find at these websites is remarkable.But the most important thing which is counted in this is the ease of delivery.From many years the Indian people have become accustomed of buying from shops which are located near their house.The Indian people have become accustomed to stand in long queues in front of shops and have developed a habit of bargaining and haggling with the storekeepers.This habit has to change and have to transform into something good which shows some signs for the customers.Now as all of us can see that people are very busy with their jobs and life.So they want a medium of purchase which is easy to access for them and saves a lot of time.So that is the reason people are attracted to the e-commerce websites because they deliver the product to them on their doorsteps and customer don't have to stand in any sort of queue and wait for his product to arrive.So although the customer can't trace the visibility of these online giants,but he places his full trust while ordering his product.There are many reasons to this trust.Firstly,people feel that brick and mortar sellers are cheaters and believe in these online websites to buy their products as they are regular internet users.You should not forget that its the new young generation who is buying maximum for the e-commerce players.Secondly the cash on delivery option is provided to the customer as he places an order on the website.So if by chance the product don't reach the customer,he is assured that he has not paid the money on the website.This option provided by E-Commerce players is increasing the people's interest in online buying.

So the situation has come to this point that the online buyers have stopped their purchases from brick and mortar stores.These online buyers used to buy from brick and mortar stores earlier.But suddenly their taste has changed.What is the reason for that?Well till now all the people are aware of that.Well E-commerce companies have achieved their targets in the past ten years and have attracted a lot of customers.But it is not true that their emergence will end the brick and mortar stores in India.The common man which includes the laborers,contract workers ,weavers and the people who live on the streets will still be buying from these kirana stores as their incomes will never rise above a certain limit.The people below BPL will be highly attracted to the brick and mortar store and some sections of the common man will also give huge attention to the brick and mortar stores.India has not become so advanced that they will buy everything online.Its not possible till a further period of fifty years.After fifty years,one can say that the people buying from E-Commerce players are very large up to 90%.But in the present situation we can say that e-commerce players have an upper hand over Brick & Mortar Business and it will gradually grab the Brick & Mortar Business hard in the due course of time.