This case study has been developed to promote understanding the e-tailing of health services. E-health web portal provides a new medium for information dissemination, interaction and collaboration among institutions, health professionals, health providers and the public. This case study provides a founders perspective in setting up and running a medical website that offers online health care services to customers across the world. The case study discusses the challenges and issues faced by the founders and also the promoter's perspective on the lucrativeness of offering e-tailing services. Using this case study an attempt is made to stress the importance of a flexible e-tailing business model specific to the services offered and need of periodic assessments to ensure that the business runs profitable.
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Shopping has assumed a brand-new look, thanks to the vast number of ecommerce sites today. Accessibility, ease of purchase, value shopping, and enhanced security contribute to the wave of shopping sprees at today's online shopping malls. Mind boggling discounts and promotional attractions lure new Internet consumers and convince shoppers to return and spend even more of their budgets online.
Initially only few items sold well on the Web. Books, CDs and personal computers were among the first to find their niche in electronic commerce, and subsequently the first to achieve major sales. But later, everything that you can and cannot get in a store find its place in online sites. There are now many businesses that sells ‘only available on internet’ products which one can’t get elsewhere. Many brick-and-mortar stores now turning into multichannel merchants (who own brick-and-mortar stores, and Internet sites) and Internet-only businesses. Sites are now becoming mobile friendly and m-commerce or app based online shopping are now a trend.
E-tailing also known as E-retailing had its start in 1996, when Amazon.com launched its virtual market place where goods from producers are directly sold to intended buyers. This move totally commercialized the internet. The next year, in 1997, Dell Systems hit headlines when it made a record profit by selling its computer goods via online. Many other ventures like Barnes & Noble, 3M, Target, Compustore, Costco, etc., joined in.
In simple terms E-tailing refers to the selling of retail goods on the Internet. It’s a business-to-consumer (B2C) transaction. There are many reasons consumers get logged into E-Tailing websites. Many find attractive pricing options on these sites. Some value the time saved for the purchase while others get attracted due to the ease in which one can compare and choose the right products. Also the deals and the quick delivery to home make the virtual e-tailing marketplace more attractive. In today’s highly dynamic market environment it’s not only the price but the also the customer experience that has huge potential to influence the purchases. These days, the e-tailing stores are giving many brick and mortar stores a run for their money. In order to keep its market share many well know brick and mortar shops are either becoming active partners in the e-tailing business or starting their own e-tailing business that’s based on a hybrid model.
In the year 2000, India focused E-tailing business started gaining ground. The economic surge and young high earning individuals were the early targets. Slowly as the Indian economy started showing steady growth more players started entering the field. Thriving job markets in Indian Metros and a unbelievable pace of outsourcing to India with changing life styles created an apt atmosphere for the e-tailing business to flourish. Also was the government infrastructure build-up especially lower internet charge and availability of cheap and quality internet band width and had major impact on the e-tailing process. The smart phone users as well as laptop ownership among the youth started growing in a mind boggling rate.