Online Shopping in India

Online shopping is becoming very popular trend in India. Even when the entire economy is going through a tough time the Ecommerce industry has grown tremendously. The convenience of shopping from home or office and the payment options like Cash on Delivery (COD) is attracting more n more people towards shopping online. But still a majority of them are confused in selecting the reliable stores and with more than 100 online stores, and everyone claims to be reliable. We are giving a review and feedback of the most reliable and leading online stores in India based on our experiences and feedbacks from friends who used it.

Online shopping is evolving very fast. Most of the top companies are funded heavily and have the cash to provide its customers the best shopping experience. Price wars have started already. Deal sites and coupon sites are also growing.

This is not a pure ranking, just a review about each store which are giving good price and quality and service. 

1. Flipkart

Flipkart was founded in 2007 by two IITD (Indian Institute of Delhi) alumni, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal. Before founding Flipkart both of them were working with Amazon. Initially Flipkart was mainly selling books. They expanded into electronic goods and gadgets. And now they offer almost all products.

For people in Banglore a Flipkart delivery boy is visible in office everyday carrying lots of packages for delivery.

Flipkart has changed over the period of time. From being a seller of just books now they have 100s of sellers selling almost all items. According to Sachin Bansal adding more sellers to Flipkart has helped them to provide customers with a very wide product range and selection. Flipkart has reported sales of US $100 mn in FY 2011-2012. They have also bought another popular online store Letsbuy.com. Letsbuy was closed and all the traffic to that was redirected to Flipkart.

Flipkart gained popularity mainly because of its fast delivery especially inside Bangalore with its own delivery network. It also provides books and electronics at very low prices.

What we like in Flipkart:

• Good looking site with easy navigation
• Attractive pricing
• Fast delivery
• Good customer support
• Cash on Delivery
• Reliable payment gateway. (Now Flipkart has introduced its own payment gateway Payzippy, which is faster and secure)
• Flipkart can be considered as the ‘Baap’ of SEO in india. In most of the google search Flipkart comes on top.
• Online tracking of order
• Free return policy (30days for items sold by WS Retail and 10 days for other sellers).

2. ebay India

Ebay is one of the earlier evangelizers of online shopping in India. Over the past 8 years, the world’s largest market place has been developing ecommerce ecosystem in India. Estimate is that on an average ebay sells around 20000 items per day. They also have safeguards like ebay guarantee, which offers 100% satisfaction or else a refund of replacement within 20 days.

You can use ebay to buy as well as sell your items. You can easily open your store on ebay also. Ebay has thousands of sellers on it. So one thing the buyer has to check before placing an order on ebay is the seller reputation.

Ebay has a very good buyer protection policy. They also have a secure payment option in form of Paisapay. For payments made through Paisa pay ebay provides complete Buyer protection in case of any complaints in case of delivery and for payments made through other options ebay provides a buyer protection limit of upto 10000.

What we like in ebay:

• Vast variety of items
• Good customer support
• Cash on Delivery (Depend on whether the seller provides it. Not available for all sellers)
• Reliable payment option in form of Paisapay.
• Free return policy (20days for items sold).

A few tips for those who buy from ebay :

• Check the sellers rating and other items the seller is selling to ensure the quality and service.
• Check for other buyers’ feedback on the item you are purchasing and about the seller.
• Try to use Paisapay as payment method.
• Go through the policies and terms before placing a bid.

3. Myntra.com

Myntra is one of the leading online stores when it comes to fashion. It has always spent well on building the brand. It was one of the first online stores to come out with a well targeted TV commercial. Myntra is started by Mukesh Bansal, Ashutosh Lawania and Vineet Saxena, all 3 of them like flipkart founders are IIT alumni.

Myntra has tie ups with almost all top brands in the country. They also have their own inhouse brands like Roadster, Dressberry and Anouk. Recently they also brought a brand HRX in tie up with Bollywood actor Hritik Roshan, which is exclusively available on Myntra.com.  

When it comes to fashion Myntra is of course one of the most preferred site.

Hers is what we like about Myntra

• Very attractive website with separate sections for latest trends and style videos.
• Easy return policy of free return within 30 days.
• Very good customer care- They call you and inform you in case any item is not available due to some reason.  
• My privilege – Shop and earn loyalty points.
• Good in house brands at affordable rates.
• Cash on Delivery
• Very attractive offers and discounts.

We would be happy if they add more locations for shipping as they still don’t deliver to many small towns. 

4. Homeshop 18

Homeshop 18 is a venture of the Network 18 group along with GS Home shopping, Korea (3^rd largest home shopping company in the world). Homeshop 18 has a 24 hours home shopping channel. It then also ventured into online retail with the site homeshop18.com.

Items we would recommend to buy from Homeshop18 are mainly books and electronics items and Home and Kitchenware. We have found Homeshop18 offering the lowest price for many of the books and electronics gadget. They are competing with Flipkart in its own game of selling books and electronics.

Initially we used to read a lot of complaints about homeshop18 and their service. But from early 2012 homeshop18 has considerably improved their service and can be considered as a very good option for purchase of mainly books and electronic gadgets.

What we like about home shop 18:

• Very attractive prices for many of the books and gadgets
• The description on Television about the product and usage makes it easy to select a product
• Multiple payment options including COD and EMI.
• Good customer support and decent delivery time

5. Jabong

Jabong is one of the most preferred site for fashion shopping like Myntra. Started in January 2012 Jabong has grown very fast to become the third most visited shopping website in India. Jabong processes on an average around 14000 orders a day.

Like Myntra Jabong also is for the fashion lovers and brand lovers. Jabong has tie ups with the leading domestic and international fashion brands. You can just go to site and make a purchase or else you can register and then login to your account and make purchases. Jabong also gives a coupon of 1500 INR for the first time registration.

The word Jabong stands for an exotic fruit. Just like the meaning of the name Jabong is really an exotic fruit for the fashion and brand lovers. One stop destination for all your fashion needs at very good prices.

What we like about Jabong:

• Wide range of products
• Very good website and easy product selection
• Attractive offers
• Very good customer care and service
• Special Designer’s section to purchase designer wears by India’s leading designers
• Fast and prompt delivery.
• Esay payment options including COD
• Free return policy within 30 days