E-tailing: Tapping the Customers Online

The word ‘retail’ is derived from the French word ‘retaillier’ meaning ‘to cut a piece off’ or ‘to break bulk’. In simple terms it involves activities whereby product or services are sold to final consumers in small quantities. Retailing is emerging as one of India's most dynamic and fast paced sectors. The drivers of its upward growth trajectory hardly need rehearsing, but they nonetheless help to explain why the Indian retail market is seen by both domestic and international retailers, as one of the globe's greatest untapped market. The Indian companies face competition from not only the local markets but also strong global competitors who are utilizing the technology to capture the customers worldwide. The only solution to be successful in this global contest is embracing e-tailing. E-tailing or electronic retailing may be defined as use of internet to sell goods and services online. During the past decade, the popularity of the Internet has been growing explosively. We have left behind traditional retailing concepts. Internet offers numerous features (capacity, speed, precision and convenience) that help firms attract a large number of potential customers. With the advent of internet more & more companies are using it for carrying out their retailing activities. The time is not far off when the entire corporate world will be digitized to an extent that these technologies will create major competitive advantages. In this paper, the researcher will discuss about the present scenario of e-tailing, the benefits & goals of e-tailing, how it is different from traditional retailing & how it can be used effectively. The paper further discusses the business models of e-tailing along with the future prospects.