Challenges of Indian E-commerce sector: An evaluation

The birth and growth of Internet has been the biggest event of the century. It is changing the way consumers shop and buys goods and services, and has rapidly evolved into a global phenomenon and India is also not an exception in this pursuit. E-commerce in India has come a long way from a timid beginning in the 1999–2000 to a period where one can sell and find all sorts of stuff from a high end product to a meager peanut online. The number of users logging on to the Internet is growing by leaps and bounds and indicates a growing sense of comfort with the use of Internet for shopping. Most corporations are using Internet to represent their product range and services so that it is accessible to the global market and to reach out to a larger range of their audience. Computers and the Internet have completely changed the way one handles day-to-day transactions; online shopping is one of them. The Internet has brought about sweeping changes in the purchasing habits of the people. In the comfort of one's home, office or cyber cafe or anywhere across the globe, one can log on and buy just about anything from apparel, gift items, food, home needs, medicines, books, music and diamond jewellery to digital cameras, mobile phones, MP3 players, video games, movie tickets, rail and air tickets, and many more. Ease, simplicity, convenience and security are the key factors turning the users to buy online. E-Commerce with its wide array of information nooks, allows the customer to go through various reviews of the product or service before actually heading for purchases. These online shopping websites also have daily deals for the customer looking for discounts and store offerings. The growth of technology has made these a part and parcel of everyday lifestyle. The advent of plastic money or the debit/credit card and the smooth access to the World Wide Web has brought the shops from around the world to the desktop. Internet is now going beyond the simple exchange of information to a shopping paradise.

In spite of this there are numerous challenges before various domestic and international players posed by peculiar Indian socio-economic and technological environment. These challenges are theme matter of this research paper.