Are E-Commerce (Shopping) Companies Targeting the Right Segment in India

Introduction

E-commerce is the combining of electronic technologies with elements of traditional stores and direct mail models. The term E-commerce was originally conceived to describe the process of conducting business transactions electronically using technology from Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). These technologies, which first appeared in the late 1970’s, allowed for the exchange of information and the execution of electronic transactions between business, typically in the form of electronic purchase orders and invoices. EDI and EFT were the enabling technologies that laid the groundwork for what we now know as E-commerce. The definition of E-commerce began to change in 2000 though, the year of the dot-com collapse when thousands of internets business folded. Despite the epic collapse, many of the world’s most established traditional brick-and-mortar business was emboldened with the promise of E-commerce and the prospect of serving a global customer base electronically. With over $700 billion dollars in sales business to business transactions online became one of the largest forms of E-commerce the very next year. Many of the dot-com collapse “first-mover” failures served their offline competitors very well, providing evidence of what not to do in building a viable online business. For example, one of the most infamous national supermarket chains, Web van, who each have developed their own successful online grocery delivery business.