In the wake of the recent terror attacks in major cities, e-shopping during the forthcoming festival season is likely to go up by 180 per cent in Delhi and other metros, according to an ASSOCHAM study.
Based on feedback from traders across the country, the study says the worst-hit would be footpath sellers, especially those who sell garments and household articles.
Also, during Dussehra and Diwali, white goods and bullion trade would in all likelihood not be as impressive as it was last year because little discounts to attract customers are being offered by consumer durables manufactures due to higher input cost. Inflation and loss of property and lives as a result of terror activities at various places have completely dampened the purchasing enthusiasm of common investors towards gold and silver.
According to feedback received by the Chamber secretariat in the past 10 days on buying trends, it has been found that because of security reasons e-shopping is going to grow by nearly 180 times in various metros including large townships like Lucknow, Chandigarh, Dehra Dun, Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, Udaipur and Jaipur.
ASSOCHAM Secretary-General D. S. Rawat said through e-shopping in the month of October-November 2007, shopkeepers in major hubs of economic activity effected sales of number of articles to an extent of Rs.5,500 crore. Since, one keeps a record of e-transactions as these take place through the established banking mechanism, the figure is realistic and cannot be described as exaggerated. The ASSOCHAM expects this to go up between 175-180 per cent to touch levels of over Rs.15,000 crore, Mr. Rawat said.
Hi Sarthak,
Your concern may be right but festive season do increase the online shopping as it is a much more convenient way to shop and especially when people want to send gifts to their loved ones, they find it easier to transact online.
Also, the news piece says that the most popular categories are electronic items, apparel and design purchases whose sales during coming festive season is most likely to increase. And there are other categories too like gems and jewelery, accessories, gift products, etc. which are becoming increasingly popular and hence, could be a reason for an uptrend in the e-shopping in the coming days.
However, nothing could replace the in-shop experience as the touch and feel aspect, the human factor i.e. the salesperson’s guidance, etc. is completely missing in the online shopping.
I kind of disagree with the statement, The figure seems to be highly inflated, as we can not provide credit cards overnight to the newer customers, and change the mindset to transact over the net, we still look for the tangible factor while shopping...
E-commerce has been growing in terms in tickets (rail, airways, cinemas), Mobile recharges, and gift centers like ferns n petals...the diwali shopping involves none of them, we would still prefer walking to a showroom for purchasing them...