1 out of 5 products from known e-commerce sites are counterfeit

With Diwali around the corner, we think this will interest you - 1 out of 5 products on e-commerce platforms like Snapdeal, Paytm Mall, Flipkart or Amazon are turning out to be counterfeit. That's 20-22% of goods received by customers!

Will the e-commerce policy benefit homegrown OTT platforms?

According to the current policy, any e-commerce platform with foreign investment cannot exercise ownership or control over the inventory sold on its platform. This may prove to be a threat to Originals coming from global OTT platforms.

The draft states that e-commerce includes buying, selling, marketing or distribution of goods, including digital products and services, through an electronic network. Delivery of goods, including digital products, and services either online or through physical means have also been covered under this clause.

https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/draft-e-commerce-policy-will-it-benefit-homegrown-ott-platforms-95551.html

Smaller ecommerce players asking for better policies

The All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA) has submitted comments to the DPIIT on the E-Commerce Policy on: regulation of marketplace practices, economic utility and on counterfeiting measures.

https://www.medianama.com/2019/04/223-indias-draft-ecommerce-policy-online-vendors-association-wants-marketplaces-regulated-as-economic-utilities/

Direct sellers affected by discounts of e-commerce sites

Steep discounts being offered by e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal has adversely affected the actual sales by direct sellers. The Delhi High Court ruled earlier this week that these platforms cannot sell products owned by these sellers without prior authorisation. The court further said e-commerce platforms have the obligation to maintain the sanctity of contracts and should not encourage or induce a breach.

https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/e-commerce/e-tailing/steep-discounts-by-e-commerce-platforms-adversely-affect-sales-by-direct-sellers-idsa/70212214

E-commerce regulator to hear your complaints

The recently passed Consumer Protection Bill 2019 paved the way for a regulator who could mediate with e-commerce companies such as Amazon and Flipkart, if they influenced pricing, unfair promotions and misrepresent the quality of goods and services sold on their platforms. This bill will not only protect the rights of consumers purchasing goods and services both online and offline, but also have the power to initiate class against companies including enforcing recalls, returns and refunds!

https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/e-commerce/e-tailing/e-commerce-regulator-to-hear-your-complaints/70562878

Let the bidding wars begin with Brand Factory’s Brand Stock Exchange

As a first-of-its-kind concept, Brand Factory hosted the Brand Stock Exchange. Hosted on the company’s Facebook and Instagram pages, it was a digital IP that announced discounts in a bidding format. Available for 24 hours from the 3rd of September, customers got a chance to trade and grab products at the most discounted rates! 

https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/marketing/brand-factory-launches-digital-ip-brand-stock-exchange/70948635

Offline Retail outpaced by growing Indian e-commerce

Fueled by low data tariffs, affordable smartphones and growing Internet usage, India is at the cusp of a massive online boom! The e-commerce market size of the country is predicted to reach $230 billion by 2028!Another 40-50 crore shoppers are expected to come online in 10 years, joining the nearly 10 crore online shoppers in India. Online shopping has outpaced the offline retail segment’s growth. 

https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/e-commerce/e- tailing/indian-ecomm-fast-outpacing-offline-retail-set-to-touch-230b-by-2028/70969825

Myntra Presents World’s First Digital Fashion Show

Myntra has announced the launch of first of its kind fashion reality show in association with Zoom Studios, to find the world’s digital fashion influencer hunt all set to go live on its app - ‘Myntra Fashion Superstar’. The show has been produced in association with Banijay India.

https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/advertising/myntra-launches-digital-fashion-reality-show/71093831

30% jump in e-commerce sales this year

This goes to imply that Indians' spending capacity has increased. Flipkart and Amazon dominated 90 percent of the market share during the six-day sale.

A report reveals that the festive sales earned e-tailers a whooping $3 billion with a huge base of customers from Tier-2 cities.

https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/amazon-flipkart-sales-generate-rs-19000-crore-in-6-days/71492668

Ban on unfair prices and fake reviews: New Rules

The Department of Consumer Affairs, under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, released the draft of Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules 2019. It states an e-commerce entity cannot influence the price of goods and services, adopt unfair trade practices, or even leave fake reviews as consumers. The draft rules are open for consultation from stakeholders for 21 days, that is, until December 2, 2019. 

https://www.medianama.com/2019/11/223-consumper-protection-ecommerce-draft-rules/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+medianama+%28Medianama%3A+Digital+Media+In+India%29

Self-regulation of ecomm platforms proposed

The Competition Commission of India has advocated that e-commerce players have self-regulation by increase in transparency in search rankings, collection and use the data and user review and rating mechanism. The CCI had noted concerns that ecommerce platforms gave preferential treatment to some sellers including higher search rankings, as well as about arbitrary increases in commissions.

https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/e-commerce/e-tailing/competition-commission-of-india-pitches-for-self-regulation-of-ecomm-platforms/73165202

Social Commerce empowers Women Sellers across India

A new wave of customers from smaller towns and cities are attracted towards social commerce sites which  are hosted by local language interfaces. These new formats help women entrepreneurs push their products via chat or videos and get the customers’ trust in them. Fashion, beauty, and home categories, which have a large selection, continue to be the top-selling segments with orders priced on an average at less than Rs 1,000.

https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/20-higher-average-order-value-high-repeat-orders-how-women-sellers-are-becoming-prominent-in-social-commerce/74471205?utm_source=Mailer&utm_medium=ET_batch&utm_campaign=etretail_news_2020-03-05&dt=2020-03-05&em=dmlqYXlhbGFrc2htaS52YXJkYW5AYmN3ZWJ3aXNlLmNvbQ==

India to introduce e-commerce regulator

In order to make platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart more accountable and turn over information swiftly, India has planned an e-commerce regulator. The newly created regulator will be empowered to seek any information from companies to enforce the new policy and even other Indian laws aimed at protecting consumers or ensuring fair competition on e-commerce.

https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/india-plans-e-commerce-regulator-tighter-controls-under-new-policy-sources/74729847

E-commerce revolution in India gets its second wind, post Covid-19

Ecommerce is primed to reach nearly 300 to 350 mn shoppers over the next 5 years driven by lower data prices and investments to improve customer experience. Online platforms are innovating. As Indian e-retail sees a steep increase in shopper penetration, driven by lower data prices and investments to improve customer experience, online platforms are innovating to onboard the next hundreds of millions of shoppers. The next wave of shoppers will have different needs and will interact differently than the current set of online shoppers. There will be four key trends going forward: Voice and Vernacular, Visual and Video, Social Shopping and an emergence of large digital ecosystems.

https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/e-commerce/e-tailing/e-commerce-revolution-in-india-gets-its-second-wind-post-covid-19/77460376

E-shoppers double amid pandemic to 42% of urban active internet users

In recent times, nearly 50% of these are new users of e-commerce coming from tier-1 and -2 cities. Amazon and Google have emerged as the preferred discovery platforms before making purchases. Before the pandemic, just 22% of the urban active internet users had shopped online.

https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/e-commerce/e-tailing/e-shoppers-double-amid-pandemic-to-42-of-urban-active-internet-users/77815692

B2B eCommerce – Unlocking the potential of thousands of MSMEs in India

Contributing over 29% of India’s GDP, over 90 lakhs-plus registered MSMEs employ nearly 11 crore people in the country. Since these enterprises contribute to 48% of the country’s exports, there is a renewed focus on them to limit imports and dependence on other countries. The Government has taken several strategic measures in this direction including the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign. The theme got further support in the Union Budget 2021 that emphasizes upon nurturing the entrepreneurial ecosystem by offering greater incentives for existing and upcoming start-ups, simplifying compliance norms for businesses, and increasing public capital expenditure across sectors. These measures can unlock the true potential of MSMEs and make them the crusader of India’s economic recovery. Reports show that in FY 2020, there has been more than 18 percent growth in MSME establishments. On one hand, the pandemic has brought back focus on smaller businesses but on the other hand, it has also created major disruptions in traditional modes of running a business. Some of the challenges that MSMEs are faced with today are working capital crunch, supply chain bottlenecks, technological glitches, elaborate GST compliance framework, limited customer appetite for spending and many more. The answer to some of these challenges lies in MSMEs embracing digital solutions for managing various aspects of their business. As businesses evolve and adapt to newer ways of operating, procurement is one such function that can go full digital resulting in increased efficiency and reduced costs. India being a mobile first economy, this switch to e-procurement can help MSMEs, even the ones operating out of Tier II & III markets, access products from suppliers of different regions in a more convenient manner.

https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/e-commerce/e-tailing/b2b-ecommerce-unlocking-the-potential-of-thousands-of-msmes-in-india/81205035

Netflix rolls out ‘Downloads For You’

Streaming giant Netflix has rolled out a new feature that will automatically download movies and TV shows. The new ‘Downloads for You’ feature will help users in situations where they find themselves stuck without Internet access or in a long commute. According to Mashable, previously, the Smart Downloads feature on Netflix would automatically delete the episodes a user has watched and would download the next episode of the said TV series. However, this left Netflix movies without an automatic download feature.Now, the new ‘Downloads For You’ feature will allow users to automatically download Netflix episodes and movies in order to watch later. This feature is only available for Netflix Android app for now and it is not known when iOS or iPadOS users will get the new feature. The ‘Downloads For You’ feature is an opt-in feature that can be turned on inside the Netflix app.

https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/digital/netflix-rolls-out-downloads-for-you/81187473