A Study on Virtual Markets in Coimbatore City, Tamil Nadu

Agriculture and related industries employ 45 per cent of the country’s workforce, while its share in the Gross Value Addition is just about 20.20 per cent. Mere technological innovations alone could not accelerate agricultural income unless and otherwise, it is backed up with appropriate marketing reforms and regulations. Fusion of advanced technologies and the integration of physical and digital systems, the predominance of innovative business models and new processes, and the creation of smart products and services pave the way. These technologies encompass the IOT, AI, Block chain, Big data and the Smartphone, among others. To properly work and reach scale, these digital innovations need to be delivered within a business model functioning in mobile-based virtual markets. Thirty respondents engaged in online purchase of goods were selected at random in the vicinity of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore campus.Twenty retailers engaged in virtual sales at the rate of five per goods like food, groceries, medicine and cloth were selected. Conventional tool like percentage analysis was adopted to analyse the data. Drivers of virtual marketing and its advantages and disadvantages are discussed in this paper. Specifically, the impact on transaction cost and the benefits for different stakeholders are illustrated. Concept of Virtual Agricultural Marketing is also highlighted.