Dynamics and prospects of E-Tail business in India: A qualitative study

In emerging countries like India, due to revolutionary expansion of internet access for large mass of population retail markets are shifting more and more towards E-tail. It is expected to alter the market dynamism of the country in the years to come. Even at this early stage of evolution of the E-tail sector in India it is superseding the traditional Brick-and-mortar system. However, despite of extremely rising need to understand the potentials of the business model in order to estimate the future shape of the retail business in emerging markets there is a dearth of factual study on the sector. This paper attempts to collate and synthesize all available and authentic qualitative information on the E-tail sector in India and attempts to do a SWOT analysis of the E-tail sector in India to draw conclusion on salient features, future prospects and challenges this emerging and fast growing sector is expected to face. Section I of the paper gives an overview of the E-tail sector in India emphasizing on three issues, namely, brief background and the significance of the sector, history of E-tail in India, and a brief overview of E-tail business models. A Comparative study of the businesses of selected leading E-tail companies in India (Amazon, eBay and Shopclues) is carried out in the Section II. Section III attempts a SWOT analysis of the sector. Finally, Section IV of the paper estimates the future of the business on the basis of synthesized information.