StartupTalky

Tag: E-Commerce

  • RailRestro – Fresh And Delicious Food Delivery In Train

    Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by RailRestro.

    Today, nearly 6 billion people travel in Indian Railway and we Indians love this journey more than any other mode of transport. Train journeys, especially lengthy ones can get you hungry while you resist the desire to eat from the in-train caterer. The media has uncovered the pathetic side of train meals. This has made commuters apprehensive about consuming these meals.

    To counter this issue, Manish Chandra came up with the concept of RailRestro. The objective of RailRestro is to ensure the easy and convenient availability of great food choices with variety & assortment and prepared in hygienic kitchen conditions for all consumer goods.

    RailRestro – Company Highlights

    Startup Name Railrestro.com
    Headquarter Patna, India
    Sector E-catering, E-commerce
    Founders Mr Manish Chandra, Ms Suman Priya (Co-founder)
    Founded 2015
    Parent Organization Yescom India Softech Pvt Ltd
    Website railrestro.com

    RailRestro – About and How it Works
    RailRestro – Founders and Team
    RailRestro – Target Market Size
    How was RailRestro Started?
    RailRestro – Business Model and Revenue Model
    RailRestro – Growth and Revenue
    RailRestro – User Acquisition
    RailRestro – Logo and Meaning
    RailRestro – Funding
    RailRestro – Startup Challenges
    RailRestro – FAQs

    List of Food Startups in India | [2019 Exhaustive List]
    India has a humongous food industry, the sixth largest in the world. Retail
    startups account for about 70% of the total sales in this segment. According to
    reports, the Food & Retail market will be worth $ 828.92 billion by 2020. The
    food-tech industry is growing rapidly with the emergence and devel…
    StartupTalkyAshwini

    RailRestro – About and How it Works

    Railrestro was founded in the year 2015 to provide healthy & hygienic food in the Indian railways operated trains. Passengers can easily order food in train. It partnered with almost 8000 premium restaurants around the country. The company’s vision is to make healthy and hygienic food available in the train.

    Research shows statics of food poisoning in the train and people are helpless to eat non-healthy food while traveling. The company’s motive is to provide all kinds of food to the Indian Railway travelers so that they can have healthy and well-cooked food in the train. Railretsro.com provides all kinds of meals on the wheel for travelers starting from baby food to the heavy Thalis of specific regions in the country.

    RailResto provides Online food in train

    Through its PAN-India based business, it has also helped numerous restaurants to increase their revenue by allowing them to deliver food in the train with the partnership of Railrestro.

    The team believes in making the Indian Travelers railway journey a healthy, hygienic, and tasty one. The business slogan of the startup Ralrestro.com is “spice up your train journey”.

    You have numerous cuisines to pick from like North Indian, South Indian, Chinese, Mughlai, Hyderabad, Continental, Italian, Non-vegetarian, Vegetarian, and, of course, soft drinks. Besides all this, they ensure you that the local food suppliers, they have partnered with, cook hygienic food so that you do not have to rely on unhealthy snacks.

    The railway food delivery company tracks the train in real time and makes sure that fresh food is made available to the passengers travelling in the train through its network restaurants across India. It provides online food in train at around 300 railway stations in India direct from the restaurant at the seat. Payments can be made directly online while placing the order or you can pay on delivery of the food too.

    RailRestro – Founders and Team

    Husband and Wife duo, Manish Chandra and Suman Priya are the Founders of Railrestro.

    Founders of Railrestro
    Manish Chandra and Suman Priya, Founders of Railrestro

    Manish Chandra is the CEO & Director at Railrestro. He is a serial entrepreneur who has keen interest into e-commerce marketing buildups and startup Ideas

    Suman Priya is Director and Co-founder at Railrestro. She is an inspiration who showed her faith in Manish’s idea and helped him with full zeal to actualize the business idea into a business operation.

    Currently there are more than 100 people working in-office and more than 300 work as delivery chain, freelancer and Marketing professionals.

    “We hire only those motivated youths who believe in startup concept and ready to work for it. Our team enjoy a lot while working in the office. The environment is friendly and lively. Clubbed birthday celebration, anniversary celebration, lunch parties and festivals are organized frequently”, says RailRestro owner Manish Chandra about the office culture.

    Railrestro Team
    Railrestro Team

    RailRestro – Target Market Size

    The company is into the e-catering services and having the authorization of IRCTC e-catering, it is operating in PAN India. It has served around 50 lakh meals on the train. The target audience is all the Indian railways’ travelers. RailRestro is into e-commerce so all the measurement is done digitally with its AI-enabled website.

    How was RailRestro Started?

    Frequent railway journeys during Manish Chandra’s ( Railrestro owner) college times made him realize the need for good food in the train. It was somewhere put in his mind to ring about some resolution to the food problems in the train. With the IRCTC portal and its partnership programs, the company came up in the market.

    Initially, Railrestro owner, Manish discussed the idea with his family members and they were also the first investor of this company. His parents helped him to channelize and operate the business in the initial days. Later, Manish connected to different people in the same sector and fortunately, Railrestro received very good responses from the customers.

    How Online Food Delivery Startups are dealing with CoronaVirus Outbreak?
    The Coronavirus or COVID-19 which started last year in December in Wuhan, China
    has impacted the global economy and no industry sector has remained immune to
    it. All businesses, startups and industries across the globe are coming up with
    safety measures to deal with the virus like asking employees t…
    StartupTalkyVarad Kitey

    RailRestro – Business Model and Revenue Model

    RailRestro has marketplace kind of business model, with wide network of vendor tie-ups with restaurants across India. It also has railrestro app for online food order in train. Passengers travelling via train can order food from the Railrestro Website, railrestro app or via call. It offers food as per the traveler preferences across multiple locations in India. It is an ISO certified company. Travellers need to provide their PNR details or train number information on the website to enable smooth delivery on time.

    RailRestro – Growth and Revenue

    During the first 3 months of Inception, RailRestro ran on a no-profit and no-loss model. It gained traction when it partnered with IRCTC, and started processing 600 orders/day nine months after starting out. The company’s revenue is estimated to be around $17M per year.

    RailRestro – User Acquisition

    The startup believes in providing a quality service to the passengers and that’s the single factor that attracts the customers to the brand. However, they are also onto the digital sphere so Google ads, Facebook campaigns, influencers programs also helped them to make Railretsro.com known amongst the general public at large.

    RailRestro – Logo and Meaning

    RailRestro embarked on this journey to be the most preferred brand for ordering meals during train journeys in India. Its logo has rail restro written between a symbol of train and a set of spoon, knife and fork. Rail Restro represents a restaurant in rail. It symbolizes that we can get our food in train from trusted restaurants. Its Logo rightly signifies the activities of the startup.

    RailRestro – Funding

    RailRestro is currently Bootstrapped (Nov 2020). It has no outside funding or other support launches.

    RailRestro – Startup Challenges

    “When we started our business the biggest challenge was to connect with the Restaurants and making them agree for the food deliveries in the train”, recalls Manish Chandra, founder and CEO of Railrestro.

    Initially the restaurant tie-ups were very difficult due to the trust issues and digital-unawareness. Slowly, their marketing team turned this hurdle into its strength by tie-up with more than 8,000 restaurants in each corner of the country.

    RailRestro – FAQs

    What is RailRestro?

    RailRestro is an e-catering and e-commerce company in the food industry for Railway food delivery. It serves online food order in train.

    Who is RailRestro owner?

    Manish Chandra is the owner of RailRestro.

    When was RailRestro founded?

    RailRestro was founded in 2015.

    How is the RailRestro’s review?

    It has been rated around 4 by the customers who ordered food in train from RailRestro.

  • How did Digital Platforms doubled their growth in 2020

    The PayU Insights report had stated that during 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic and the mass restrictions laid down by the countries, the digital platforms and the digital apps had seen a huge surge in their user base which is over more than 100%. Let’s look at how the digital platforms have doubled their growth in 2020.

    UPI Sector
    OTT
    Gaming Sector
    e-commerce segments
    Ed Tech
    FAQ

    UPI Sector

    The PayU Insights report said that due to the Covid 19 pandemic and because of the various suggestions by experts to avoid paying physical cash as a precaution to not get in touch with the virus, the UPI payment has seen an increase in their demand.

    This is because of certain places like shopping malls, supermarkets and stores implementing digital payments as the primary source of payment based on the guidelines given by the governments and considering it to be safe for the customers.

    The UPI transactions have seen a growth of around 288 % in the year 2020 and the expenditures through UPI have grown up to 331 % between the years 2019 and 2020.

    OTT

    The OTT segment has also seen a huge rise in their demand. Due to the pandemic, people were restricted to stay in their homes and most of them would resort to a piece of entertainment. The coronavirus pandemic had led to the shutting down of offline theatres and other sources of offline entertainment avenues.

    Since the OTT platforms are available for a reasonable rate and additionally serving their purpose to keep them entertained. Moreover, all the new movies which were supposed to be released in the theatres were released on the OTT platforms.

    The OTT platforms have released a wide range of movies in the Indian Languages rather than concentrating on the western languages. This would be one of the major reasons for the increase in demand for the OTT platforms.

    In 2020, there were a lot of local OTT platforms which came into existence and a lot of OTT series and super hit movies. Some of the OTT platforms include Zee5, Sony Liv, Voot and many more.

    The OTT segment had witnessed an incredible growth in their transactions of around an increase of 144 % in the year 2020 and also an increase in their expenditure of up to 139 % in between the years 2019 and 2020.

    New Guidelines for OTT Platforms Explained
    OTT platforms have been growing in India at a fast pace. The OTT market in Indiais expected to emerge as the world’s sixth-largest by 2024. The OTT market isalso expected to grow at a CAGR of 28.6% in the next four years. There arecurrently about 40 providers of over-the-top-platforms (OTT) in th…
    StartupTalkyAlan Joseph

    Gaming Sector

    Even the gaming sector has seen an increase in their demand. Again, the gaming sector is also considered to be part of the entertainment industry and it plays a major role in entertaining the millennials and the children.

    The new and updated games, better laptops and computers with greater graphics and higher software upgrades would let the users try different games to keep them entertained. There are multiplayer games where the players can converse with each other and letting them play as a team.

    These games provide a feeling of playing the games together with their friends even though it is in a virtual model. The gaming sector is the secondary source of entertainment and is also considered to be the primary source by certain people.

    The gaming sector has witnessed a phenomenal increase in expenditure of up to 100 % in the year 2020 and also an increase in their average ticket size of up to 154 % in between the years 2019 and 2020.

    e- commerce segments

    The e-commerce segments have also seen an increase in their demand. The e-commerce sector was one of the booming industries in the country but still had to face a lot of challenges to gain the trust of Indians.

    But due to the restrictions laid down because of the coronavirus pandemic and the safety concerns in going to a retail outlet the e-commerce industry has seen an increase in their demand. Another factor would be the wide range of advertisements and promotions done by the e-commerce giants such as Flipkart and Amazon on the safety precautions they undertake for the safety of their customers.

    All these factors have led to a massive increase in the number of transactions for the e-commerce segments of up to 106 % in the year 2020 and an increase in expenditure of around 124 %, that is in between the first six months and the last six months of 2020.

    How to Start an Ecommerce business in India 2021 (Complete Guide)
    If you are looking to start your own ecommerce business like Amazon in India,this is the way to to go. Basically, eCommerce is an online process of buying orselling goods and services. There is not any paperwork involved in making anytransaction. One of the best things I like about e-commerce s…
    StartupTalkyParnas Ghosh

    Ed Tech

    Even the Ed-tech had seen a considerable rise in their demand. As the colleges and classes for students had been shifted to the online mode and certain colleges making it important to have an online course to be taken up by students have increased the demand for the Ed-tech platforms.

    A lot of colleges have also taken up subscriptions to certain Ed-tech platforms to provide a platform for the students who would want to upskill themselves. Even the professionals have used these platforms to upskill themselves and to work on their growth.

    Indian EdTech Sector Funding in last Five years
    Indian EdTech Sector Funding in last Five years

    In the year 2020, the number of transactions in the ed-tech sector had seen an increase of up to 78 % and expenditures of the Ed-tech industry have seen an increase of up to 44 %. The Ed-tech industry has seen a sharp rise in their demand as soon as the implementation of lockdown with an increase in their transactions of up to 69 %.

    Best Education Business Ideas to Build an Empire
    Education [https://startuptalky.com/tag/education/] is one of the important things forpeople living in this world. As one important area, we can utilize education inmany fields of operation and in our day to day life. This is perfect for those who have a high educational background or those who…
    StartupTalkyAshwini

    FAQ

    What is the future of gaming industry?

    The gaming industry is expected to have a statistical worth of about $300 billion by 2025.

    What is the future of OTT?

    According to KPMG Media and Entertainment Reports, the Indian OTT market is expected to grow 45 per cent to reach USD 5 billion by the end of fiscal 2023.

    How big is the EdTech market?

    The global education technology (EdTech) market size was valued at USD 76.4 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach USD 89.1 billion in 2020.

    Conclusion

    In India, the major growth in the digital platforms was seen in the North-Eastern part of the Country. The countries such as Nagaland with 93 % increase, Manipur with 74 % increase, Tripura with 63 % increase, Arunachal Pradesh with 66 % increase and Meghalaya with an increase of 82%. These countries have been on top of the list.

  • The Economic Outcomes of the Suez Canal crisis

    The recent news about the blockage of the Suez Canal has gained a lot of popularity on social media. The pictures of the blockage have been widely spread in the online world as memes. But the economic outcomes of the blockage of Suez canal are severe.

    Let’s look at the Economic Outcomes of the Suez Canal crisis

    What happened at Suez canal
    Economic outcome of the Suez Canal crisis
    Loss due to the Suez Canal crisis
    Effect on Crude oil prices
    Other consequences due to the Suez Canal crisis
    FAQ

    What happened at Suez canal

    A giant cargo ship which is 400 meter in length has blocked the Suez Canal. The Canal has been blocked by the ship for the past few days. The ship which is operated by the Taiwanese transport company evergreen marine is one of the world’s largest biggest container vessels.

    The ship weighs 200,000 tones and has a maximum capacity of 20,000 containers. It is said that the ship had lost control after it entered the narrow passage of the Suez Canal from the Red Sea. The salvage company which is trying to refloat the ship has said that it might take weeks for them to complete the task.

    Peter Berdowski who is the CEO of Dutch company Boskalis who is also one of the rescue teams trying to free the ship has said that depending on the situation, they can’t exclude that it might take weeks.

    Economic outcome of the Suez Canal crisis

    The ship has stopped 12% of the world’s seaborne trade and has already cost losses of billions. Almost 50 percent of the container ships pass through the Canal on a daily basis and around 30% of the global container traffic passes through it.
    The current situation is expected to cause a great damage to the global trade. It is expected that the prices of all essential commodities will increase.

    Suez Canal Crisis
    Suez Canal Crisis

    Trucking Industry In India | How To Start Trucking Business In India
    The transportation system of a nation is crucial for its financial improvementand social development. Transportation by road is favourable for different typesof vehicles due to its simplicity, adaptability, administration, anddependability. In this manner, the share of cargo, truck, and traveller…
    StartupTalkyDevashish Shrivastava

    Loss due to the Suez Canal crisis

    The experts fear that the blockage has led to severe effect on the economy and the global trade. The blockage is costing around 400 million (around INR 2.8k crores) per hour, as ships are asked to take a longer route to reach their destinations.

    Experts have said that this is the worst ship blockage ever witnessed. It is said that many cargo ships which have been diverted would take another 5-6 days to reach their destination.

    Effect on Crude oil prices

    It is said that more than 200 containers carry crude oils through the Canal on a daily basis. Experts have also told that the major hit would be for the small tankers and the crude oil exports from Europe to Asia.

    The director of Asia oil at FGE Sri Paravaikkarasu has said that around 20% of Asia’s Naphtha which is crude oil is supplied through the Suez Canal. He said that re-routing of the ships would add more amount of fuel consumption for the ships that is around 800 tones and increase its operating expenses.

    The shortage in the availability of the crude oil will lead to a jump in the crude oil prices. It is said that the crude oil prices have already increased due to the fear of the crude oil Suez Canal blockage in the past few days.

    Data from Refinitiv has suggested that around 30 oil tankers have been waiting at both the sides of the Suez Canal. David Fyfe who is a chief economist at Argus Media which is a market research firm said that around 5-10 percent of the global shipments passing through the Suez Canal are crude oil, refined oil, and liquefied natural gas shipments.

    How the fluctuations in Oil prices impact the economy.
    Oil prices fluctuate quickly in response to new cycles, policy changes, and fluctuations in the world trades and it impacts the economy in certain ways .The recent change in oil prices has been driven by a number of factors whichincludes several years of upward surprises in the production of unco…
    StartupTalkyVibhavari Madki

    Other consequences due to the Suez Canal crisis

    Lars Jensen who is an independent container shipping expert based in Denmark has said that basically anything you see in the stores would be in shortage because of the blockage in the Suez Canal.

    This includes everything from toilet papers, coffee, furniture, clothes, shoes, exercise equipment to car parts, carpets, and electronics. The blockage has also delayed e-commerce product deliveries which even include food.

    Ian woods who is a marine cargo lawyer and partner at the London-based firm Clyde and Co. has said that, there are commodities worth millions of dollars on other ships waiting for the blockage to be cleared.

    If the blockage is not cleared quickly then they would consider taking longer routes which will increase the operational charges and these extra charges will be carried down to the consumers.

    It is said that eventually the consumers will have to pay the price and this blockage would have a deep impact on the end consumers. The exact amount and the exact effect of the blockage are not yet analyzed but the more it delays the consequences will increase.

    Each day of delay will add more billions of dollars of losses towards the global trade and the economy.

    FAQ

    What country owns the Suez Canal?

    The Suez Canal is operated and owned by Egypt.

    What country built the Suez Canal?

    In 1854, Ferdinand de Lesseps, the former French consul to Cairo, secured an agreement with the Ottoman governor of Egypt to build a canal 100 miles across the Suez.

    Why did Great Britain want to control the Suez Canal?

    Great Britain wanted to control the Suez canal, because it allowed them quicker access to its colonies in Asia and Africa.

    When did Britain buy the Suez Canal?

    In 1875 Britain bought Suez Canal from the Egyptians in £4million worth of shares.

    Conclusion

    However, Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority is looking forward to cooperating with the United States in efforts to refloat the container ship which has blocked the Suez Canal for the past few days. According to Arab News, the Canal revenue for Egypt was $5.6 billion in 2020.

  • Why Alibaba might be Fined $1 Billion by China

    Alibaba Group was founded on 28 June 1999. It is known as Alibaba Group Holding Limited and also as Alibaba.com. It is a multi-national company which is based in Zhejiang, China. Alibaba group specializes in e-commerce, technology, retail, and the internet.

    Alibaba is one of the world’s largest e-commerce and retail companies. It was also rated as the fifth largest Artificial Intelligence company in the world in 2020. Jack Ma is the founder of the company. The company has around 117,000 employees as of 31 March 2020.

    The company’s name was derived from the character Alibaba from the middle-eastern story, One thousand and one nights. The name signifies that the company is Universal.

    The company is considered one of the 10 most valuable corporations. Alibaba group is named as the world’s 31st largest public limited company according to the Forbes 2000 2020 list.  As of 2020, the company has the sixth-highest global brand valuation. The company owns and operates different organizations in different business sectors across the globe.

    Alibaba group has been facing certain legal actions from the Chinese government. The company is being criticized and the company is asked to pay around $1 billion as a fine to the regulators. Let’s look at the reason behind it.

    Reasons Why Alibaba might be Fined?
    What Jack Ma said about Alibaba being fined?
    Consequences of the Fine
    FAQ

    Reasons Why Alibaba might be Fined?

    Alibaba Group has already faced legal actions in the past. Alibaba Group had forced their e-commerce sellers to pick any one platform. They have stopped their merchants to list themselves on other platforms which are against the rule of the Chinese Government.

    Alibaba is said to have alleged the anti-competitive practices by the 2008 antimonopoly law. It is said that the company had acquired its competitors without getting approvals from the government. The company had declared themselves that the acquired companies were not their competitors.

    In addition to this Alibaba group’s founder, Jack Ma’s business empire is being investigated by the Chinese Government as he had spoken against the Chinese regulatory system in October 2020.

    What stops India from becoming a startup ecosystem :Indian Startup Failure?
    The Startup scene in India took off after it realized the potency of thissector. This was not because of some magic and it obviously didn’t happenedovernight. This took a long time. It took off due to many internal reasons likemassive Fundings, growth of Angel Investors chain, boom in technology…
    StartupTalkyAbhishek Gupta

    What Jack Ma said about Alibaba being fined?

    Jack Ma said that good inventions will be able to exist with regulations but they wouldn’t exist with old-fashioned regulations. He gave an example saying that one cannot manage an airport the same way they manage a train station. He told that in the same way, we won’t be able to manage our future the way we manage the past. This was a statement made for the regulations laid down by the Chinese Government.

    He also spoke about the financial system of China saying that they should develop and depend more on credit system development. He said that they should move away from the pawnshop mentality within the financial industry.

    Annual revenue of Alibaba Group
    Annual revenue of Alibaba Group

    Changes in FDI Norms: Harm to investors from China or to Unicorn Startups Of India?
    The government of India brought in a lot of changes in the FDI norms. This wasdone keeping in mind the nation’s condition amidst the global pandemic. The mainaim was to prevent foreign companies from opportunistic take overs of Indianfirms. The recent investments made their point on curbing Chi…
    StartupTalkyAbhishek Gupta

    Consequences of the Fine

    China’s state administration has asked Alibaba group to pay an amount of $1.3 billion. The fine was implied for breaking the 2008 anti-monopoly law. This is the maximum fine collected under the law.

    The Alibaba Group was fined for investing an amount of $692 million in Intime during the year 2014 and for bidding an amount of $2.6 billion in 2017 for privatizing Intime.

    This will be the highest fine ever paid by a corporate in the history of China. Alibaba group has also been asked to cancel its association with the company’s founder Jack Ma. The regulators have told that if they fail to disassociate with their founder the company will have to face actions.

    They will have to pay the fine only if they don’t follow the rules of the Chinese government. Also do not end the policy where they force the merchants to sell only on their platform. The company is also been asked to withdraw its investments from some businesses. The regulators want the company to remove non-core businesses from its core retail operations.

    Ant Financials which is a subsidiary of Alibaba group has been claimed as a risk for the Chinese Financial system. The company was asked to undergo certain changes which are said to affect their business model.

    Alibaba Group had to temporarily stop the IPO plans of Ant financials due to the allegations. The authorities of Beijing stopped the IPO issue of Ant financials which was supposed to be for $37 billion.

    FAQ

    How much does Jack Ma earn per second?

    Jack Ma earns $0.32 per second and $1,141.55 per hour.

    What percent of Alibaba does Jack Ma own?

    Jack Ma owns 8% of Alibaba group.

    Who is the richest person in China?

    Jack Ma is the richest person in China with a net worth of 48.2 billion as of July, 2020.

    Conclusion

    Mr. Ye Han, a partner at Beijing-based law firm Merits & Tree told that the message was clear. The companies are supposed to seek approvals from the government for such deals in the country. He is a person who has a specialization in anti-trust, mergers, and acquisitions.

    Alibaba Group has said that they would actively corporate with the regulators regarding the case and their business operations would remain normal during that time.

    The regulators took strict actions against the company after the founder Jack Ma’s speech during the Bund Summit in October. He spoke about the countries strict regulations and the over dominance over the banking industry. This has led the Chinese regulators to take strict actions against the company.

  • The Curious Case of Amazon, Flipkart & FDI – The Impact of New FDI Rules

    Rapid FDI stride is something India is boasting of since economic liberation in 1991, And indeed it brought in huge investments and millions of jobs alongside. No doubt market reforms placed the economy on the fast track of development. But on the flip side, soon after FDI in multi-brand retail got introduced in 2012 local businesses and trades took a hit quite as expected. Especially since gigantic foreign players like Amazon entered the market, Plenty of jobs were lost while micro & small retailers suffered significant losses.

    First Significant Change in FDI Policy That Hit Amazon/Flipkart
    Present Scenario and Government’s Role
    E-commerce/E-retail Growth in India
    Why E-commerce Regulation is Vital for Indian Economy
    Fresh Allegations Amidst Sensational Revelations
    What lies Ahead for Amazon & Flipkart
    FAQ

    First Significant Change in FDI Policy That Hit Amazon/Flipkart

    The ease & comfort of e-shopping has been intelligently multiplied in value by these global giants by offering heavy discounts. Therefore, to level out the playing field, Govt of India brought in a major policy shift Via FDI into e-commerce in Dec 2018. This change was persuaded by Indian brick-and-mortar retailers who were long unhappy with the supposed unfair trade practices of these multinational corporations.

    They contested that e-commerce retailers like Amazon & Walmart controlled Flipkart were creating complex business structures to smartly bypass foreign investment rules. They do it by finding a way around FDI rules to avoid complying with orders that are detrimental to these corporation’s interests & profits.

    US companies deny these charges, But govt of India had to look over the interests of Indian businesses first & so it did. Now, these giants were disallowed to sell products from sellers in whom they had an equity stake.

    The Rise Of E-commerce Industry In India
    With growing internet penetration and disposable incomes, people of India areexperiencing a massive change in their shopping habits. People from all frontsof life are using their smartphones to buy products and items. With the bigthree— Amazon, Walmart, and Alibaba—entering the E-Commerce sector …
    StartupTalkyDevashish Shrivastava

    Present Scenario and Government’s Role

    However, this didn’t seem to deter these foreign participants from working around policies to keep competition from Indian retailers at bay. So the Govt of India again is revisiting the FDI rules off late to tweak it further and Prohibit even those sellers from selling on these platforms, in whom these e-commerce companies have indirect stake through their parent company.

    Prohibit sellers who purchase from the e-retailer or its group firm & intern sell on the e-commerce site (presently the seller is allowed to transact 25% of its inventory under this arrangement)

    Govt had earlier in 2020 tightened the noose on FDI from neighboring countries as well, who share land borders with us like China, who now will have to seek govt approval before investing. The objective behind was to protect opportunistic take-overs & acquisitions of Indian companies in distress by foreign giants, due to COVID-19 induced global recession.

    Henceforth, any new investments in any sector from these (restricted) countries namely China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan and Afghanistan will have to take the govt route, and not the automatic route which was open to it earlier.

    E-commerce/E-retail Growth in India

    Let us look at some fascinating facts & figures before we discuss this subject further:

    Traditional Business Vs Digital Business
    This post discusses the differences between traditional businesses and digitalbusinesses. It also talks about the types of business models that come underthese two forms of businesses. Managing a business is both challenging and interesting. It’s not like your 9-5government job where one reaches…
    StartupTalkyDevashish Shrivastava

    Why E-commerce Regulation is Vital for Indian Economy

    According to an American market research firm, Amazon & Flipkart together occupy about 63% of the total e-commerce space in India. Now, if domestic retailers, online & offline i.e. physical brick-and-mortar stores have to have a fair share of the market or a fair competition at least govt has to devise a strategy to promote Indian e-commerce & Industry without discouraging FDI. It’s a tough proposition.

    FDI is looked over by Indian departments of commerce & industry. They formulate laws and regulate FDI inflow by framing new policies and/or modifying scrapping old policies & rules. While this is done to further the economy on a macro level, its ripple effect on the micro economy can’t be overlooked either.

    So it has to strike a fine balance between retail reforms, an open market which on one hand benefits end consumers and provides millions of jobs. On the other hand predatory pricing, deep discounting by online retailers makes small retailers(mainly owner-managed & run stores) fight for survival tougher.

    Tools And Techniques Employed by E-Commerce Sector Post COVID-19
    How is the e-commerce sector dealing with the changes brought about by Covid-19?” let us try to answer this question in detail and discuss emerging trends in the e-commerce industry.
    StartupTalkyTanusha Verma

    Fresh Allegations Amidst Sensational Revelations

    A large growing economy like India, where low production costs and high-quality labor service lures investors from the world over, developed nations like the US, European and China, is also most prone to manipulations by foreign players if given a free run. As feared in this tweet by CAIT, Amazon India has been disrespecting laws reveals a recent Reuters investigation.


    In January 2020, India’s antitrust watchdog, the Competition Commission of India, announced it was investigating Amazon and Walmart Inc’s Flipkart following a complaint by an Indian trader group. The commission cited four alleged anti-competitive practices: exclusive launch of mobile phones by the e-commerce firms, promoting preferred sellers on their websites, deep discounting, and prioritizing some seller listings over others.

    What lies Ahead for Amazon & Flipkart

    While the colossal change in consumer behavior is unlikely to fade in near future, Amazon & Flipkart also maintain that they have been complying with Indian laws duly & are denying all charges. Govt is in talks with stakeholders for over a month. Therefore, for now, it is difficult to say what impact the policy changes, if any, will bring in, though e-retail unquestionably seems to have a bright future in the Indian market of a billion-plus.

    FAQ

    How much FDI is allowed in retail?

    51% FDI in multi-brand retail through automatic route i.e. without having to seek govt approval.

    Do online marketplaces like Amazon have their own products?

    Amazon and other multi-brand retail marketplaces are only allowed to connect sellers & buyers on their website in India. They are not allowed to purchase, hold, market and sell stocks as their own.

    Who started e-commerce in India?

    K Vaitheeswaran was the first person who opened the first online marketplace for Indian consumers called Fabmart.com in India in 1999, now rebranded as ‘More’.

  • Shopify – Making Easier To Start, Run, And Grow a Business

    Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by the organization it is based on.

    E-commerce has become mainstream in people’s daily lives with profound benefits. Shopify Inc. is a Canadian multinational e-commerce company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. It is also the name of its proprietary e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems.

    Shopify offers online retailers a suite of services including payments, marketing, shipping and customer engagement tools.

    Shopify – Company Highlights

    Startup Name Shopify Inc.
    Headquarters Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
    Industry Software, E-Commerce
    Founded 2006
    Founders Tobias Lütke(CEO), Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake
    Total Valuation $122.3M (As of 2019)
    Area Served Worldwide
    Website www.shopify.com

    Shopify – About and How it Works?
    Shopify – Recent News
    Shopify – Logo and its Meaning
    Shopify – Founder and History
    Shopify – Mission
    Shopify – Business Model
    Shopify – Revenue and Growth
    Shopify – Funding and Investors
    Shopify – Acquisitions
    Shopify – Competitors
    Shopify – Challenges Faced
    Shopify – Future Plans
    Shopify – FAQs

    Shopify – About and How it Works?

    Shopify Inc. is a Canadian multinational e-commerce company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. Shopify is a company that develops a cloud-based, multichannel commerce platform for small and medium-sized businesses. It is used to design, set up, and manage stores across multiple sales channels, including web, mobile, social media, brick-and-mortar locations, and pop-up shops. The platform also provides a back-office and a single view of the clients’ business.

    Shopify operates a cloud-based commerce platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses. Its software is used by merchants to run business across all sales channels, including web, tablet and mobile storefronts, social media storefronts, and brick-and-mortar and pop-up shops.

    Shopify – Recent News

    As of December 2020, Shopify Merchants Break Records with $5.1+ Billion in Worldwide Sales over Black Friday/Cyber Monday Weekend.

    “We’re excited to share our Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend results, with sales of $5.1+ billion from the more than one million Shopify-powered brands around the world. From November 27 through November 30, total sales grew by 76% from the $2.9+ billion reported for Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend in 2019, a record that was surpassed this year on Saturday, November 28, at 5:00pm ET.”

    Shopify – Logo and its Meaning

    The calm green color of the Shopify emblem symbolizes comfort and growth, it also evokes a sense of safety and reliability. The logo, designed in 2006, wasn’t changed until today, as it is a perfect reflection of the company’s values and principles.

    Shopify's Company Logo
    Shopify’s Company Logo

    Shopify – Founder and History

    Shopify was founded in 2004 in Ottawa by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake after attempting to open Snowdevil, an online store for snowboarding equipment. Dissatisfied with the existing e-commerce products on the market, Lütke, a computer programmer by trade, instead built his own.

    Founders of Shopify
    Founders of Shopify

    The first iteration of Shopify (before it was called such) was an online store that sold snowboards. When Shopify was a store selling snowboards, it was called Snowdevil. When Shopify was first an e-commerce platform, it was called Jaded Pixel.

    It only took two years for the company to turn a profit, and now the company boasts $29 billion in sales and over 377,000 active shops on its platform. It’s also grown by leaps and bounds internally. When Lutke started Shopify it was him and a few friends. Now, they have nearly 2,000 employees and five office locations.

    Shopify has garnered recognition for its growth and success; in 2012 the company was named “Canada’s Smartest Company” by Profit Magazine and was also a finalist for Startup of the Year. The same year Lutke was a finalist for Entrepreneur of the year, and three years later Shopify was named Employer of the Year in the Canadian Startup Awards.

    Best No Code Website Builders in 2020 | Website Without Code | No-Code Platforms
    Today websites have becomes an integral part of networking and business. Be it alocal shop owner or the biggest businessmen, everyone is going DIGITAL! Toenhance the business, one of the very first things that come to handy is awebsite. A website is a door to building a business or company onli…
    StartupTalkyRishabh Rathi

    Shopify – Mission

    Shopify’s mission statement says, “We help people achieve independence by making it easier to start, run, and grow a business. We believe the future of commerce has more voices, not fewer, so we’re reducing the barriers to business ownership to make commerce better for everyone.“

    Shopify – Business Model

    Shopify has a platform business model approach – Shopify acts as a platform that enables users to create an online store in order to sell their goods online. Shopify helps businesses connect with consumers by providing the businesses with the tools necessary to build an ecommerce site.

    Shopify Plus is a service thought for enterprise customers, with larger volumes, which is several times more expensive than the advanced plan.

    Shopify Plus is for merchants with higher-volume sales and it offers additional functionality, scalability, and support requirements, including a dedicated Merchant Success Manager.

    That comprises brands like Unilever, Kylie Cosmetics, Allbirds, and MVMT. Shopify has around 5,300 enterprise accounts as of 2018, which are a key driver of both the company’s subscription and merchant revenues.

    Shopify – Revenue and Growth

    Shopify revenue for the twelve months ending September 30, 2020 was $2.457B, a 73.4% increase year-over-year.

    | Year | Amount | Percentage Change from Last Year |
    | — | — | — | — |
    | 2019 | $1.578B | +47.05% |
    | 2018 | $1.073B | +59.4% |
    | 2017 | $0.673B | 72.94% |

    Today, their platform Shopify hosts over 325,000 shops for individual sellers and internet giants like Google and Tesla. The more money customers made, the more money Shopify made. This drove Shopify to help their users become better merchants, and that’s the biggest reason they’ve grown to where they are today.

    The working of Shopify and detailed information of Shopify Business Model
    What could possibly come to your mind when you first witness the term “Shopify”?The only possible faction of this term could be “Shop”. Shopify is not presentin the physical world and that’s why, probably has more effect on the customers.Since every business has moved to digital platform, why not…
    StartupTalkyVibhavari Madki

    Shopify – Funding and Investors

    Shopify has raised a total of $122.3M in funding over 4 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Dec 11, 2013 from a Series C round. Shopify is funded by 8 investors. Felicis Ventures and Insight Partners are the most recent investors.

    Date Round Amount Lead Investors
    Dec 11, 2013 Series C $100M Insight Partners, OMERS Ventures
    Oct 17, 2011 Series B $15M Bessemer Venture Partners
    Dec 13, 2010 Series A $7M Bessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark
    Jan 1, 2007 Seed Round $250K Klister Credit

    Shopify – Acquisitions

    Shopify has acquired 11 organizations. Their most recent acquisition was 6 River Systems on Sep 10, 2019. They acquired 6 River Systems for $450M.

    Acquiree Name Date Amount About Acquiree
    6 River Systems Sep 10, 2019 $450M 6 River Systems mission is to redefine fulfillment automation for e-commerce and retail operations.
    Helpful May 23, 2019 – Helpful is a human way to build relationships at work. Create short mobile videos to energize your distributed team.
    Handshake May 23, 2019 – Handshake is a B2B eCommerce platform that helps manufacturers and distributors grow their business by powering in-person and online trade.
    Tictail Nov 21, 2018 – Tictail is an online marketplace that enables users to discover independent brands.
    Return Magic Jun 20, 2018 – Return Magic is allows merchants to build loyalty while making shopping more convenient for consumers.
    Oberlo May 11, 2017 $15M Oberlo connects Shopify merchants with suppliers who ship products directly to consumers.
    Tiny Hearts Dec 5, 2016 – Tiny Hearts is an app studio that develops mobile apps and games.
    Boltmade Oct 3, 2016 – Boltmade is a software development company that focuses on cloud development, user experience research, and mobile design.
    Kit Apr 13, 2016 – Kit is a virtual employee that helps store owners sell more using digital advertising and marketing.
    Jet Cooper Aug 2013 – Jet Cooper is a user experience agency based in Toronto, Canada. They provide strategy, design, and development services to leading

    Shopify – Competitors

    The top 10 competitors in Shopify’s competitive set are Magento, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, Volusion, PrestaShop, 3dcart and Ecwid.

    Google Shopping- A Smart and Free Way of Attracting New Opportunities.
    Google has announced that they will be allowing the merchants to list theirproducts on Google Shopping search results for free of cost starting with the USand to be continued in the whole world. This is one of the new way to kick starttheir work while helping the retailers to sell their product …
    StartupTalkyYash Gupta

    Shopify – Challenges Faced

    One of the main concerns for most online store owners is the lack of face-to-face customer interaction. This is one of the best and worst things about e-Commerce. These days, customers do a lot of research to avoid brick and mortar stores and shop online. So, store owners need a mechanism where, without having face-to-face interaction with their prospective customers, they can convince them to buy online.

    This is the point when analytics comes into the picture. There are lots of analytics options available to the Shopify stores but still, there are some gaps which need to be filled.

    In 2017, the #DeleteShopify hashtag campaign called for a boycott of Shopify for allowing Breitbart News to host a shop on its platform. Shopify’s CEO, Tobias Lütke, responded to the criticism, saying “refusing to do business with the site would constitute a violation of free speech”.

    In October 2017, Citron Research founder, short-seller Andrew Left released a detailed report which described the e-commerce platform as a “get-rich-quick” scheme in contravention of Federal Trade Commission regulations. The day the report was released, the stock plunged more than 11%. The main question he posed was “Outside the roughly 50,000 verifiable merchants working with Shopify, who are the other 450,000 the company says it has?” Third-party marketing tactics were expected to be improved. Left was quoted in 2019 by The Street as saying about Shopify “I still think they are best in class”.

    Shopify – Future Plans

    In the last couple of weeks, the company has been making waves and announcing some major product updates and new features. Shopify is now offering not only an easy-to-use e-commerce platform but also a range of products from emailing and shipping to financial services. The company has also reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic by launching its Shopify Capital program in Canada, that offers cash advances between $200 CAD and $500,000 CAD to small and medium-size merchants. All this in the hopes of capturing an accelerating e-commerce penetration and as the founder, Tobi Lütke, emphasizes, to help struggling companies.

    The unfolding economic crisis has hit especially small and medium-size businesses hard. With lockdowns in effect all over the world, many companies were forced to turn to online, hoping to restore revenues and keep their business afloat. E-commerce penetration in the U.S. took a steep increase from 16% at the end of 2019 to 27% at the end of April. This change is likely here to stay – even after the lockdowns are lifted, many shoppers will continue shopping online from the safety and comfort of their homes.

    Shopify has come to the rescue of small businesses and offered a different kind of partnership. Even before the pandemic arrived, the company was known for its easy to set up and use e-commerce platform. During the crisis Shopify doubled down on the mission to help struggling businesses and capitalized on the increasing e-commerce penetration.

    Companies are drawn to Shopify not just because of the platform’s simplicity and accessibility, but also because it allows them to create a unique touch point and relationship with their customers.

    There is no “Powered by Shopify” branding on a merchant’s website. One can choose design of their online-shop and decide how to interact with customers. In a recent interview, the CEO and founder of Shopify, Tobi Lütke explained that his desire is to empower brands to create quality products that people love, and use customer feedback to continuously perfect them. This passion shows in the way Shopify builds its platform. It is centered around their merchants – “focus on your products and let us take care of everything else”.

    Shopify – FAQs

    What does Shopify Inc do?

    Shopify is a commerce platform that allows anyone to set up an online store and sell their products.

    Where is Shopify headquartered?

    The company is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada.

    Who is the CEO of Shopify?

    Tobias Lütke is the current CEO of Shopify.

    How does Shopify make money?

    Shopify merchant solutions primarily make money from payment processing fees from Shopify Payments, transaction fees, Shopify Shipping, Shopify Capital, referral fees from partners, and sales of point-of-sale (“POS”) hardware.

  • Overcoming Indian E-commerce Business Challenges

    Increasing at a generous rate of 10-15% every year, the Indian e-commerce sector has been upgrading and expanding its consumer base. With the world going digital day by day Indian E-commerce sectors are constantly trying to make shopping and services as smooth as possible. No doubt, this easiness takes countless efforts. However, to be conscious of all the upcoming challenges about your own business one has to understand the challenges overcome by Indian e-commerce businesses!

    The Indian e-commerce market is on constant lookout to know about their consumer preferences. Be it clothing, food, home décor etc., e-commerce organizations make sure they’ve got a cutthroat competition among themselves. After the United States, India holds the second-largest position in the e-commerce market globally.

    WIDGET: leadform | CAMPAIGN: undefined

    Considering the diverse and colossal population of India, it is beyond doubt a quality market ready to explore. Alright! So let’s jump into the challenges faced by e-commerce companies and how they are enhancing themselves as the day goes by.

    Understanding your Customers
    Website and Search Optimization
    Customer’s Buying Trends Awareness
    Efficient Return Methods
    Easy Multiple Payment Options
    Supply Network

    Understanding your Customers

    Customers love personalization! Provide them with the things they exactly need and they’ll stay loyal to your company and brand for a long time. However, there are thousands of customers, and personalizing things for each and every customer is a strenuous task which e-commerce companies overcome, flawlessly.

    From establishing algorithms to show similar items, to loading the website page in 1 second, are all parts of personalization. By loading the website much faster than others the chances of making more sales increase. Almost 70% consumers agree to the impact of page speed on making purchases, survey from Unbounce. The rest depends upon the quality and reviews of your product. It is quite simple, keep your customers happy!

    The Rise Of E-commerce Industry In India
    With growing internet penetration and disposable incomes, people of India areexperiencing a massive change in their shopping habits. People from all frontsof life are using their smartphones to buy products and items. With the bigthree— Amazon, Walmart, and Alibaba—entering the E-Commerce sector …
    StartupTalkyDevashish Shrivastava

    Knowing your consumer’s buying trend and sending notifications about their favourite items is something customers absolutely adore. Indian e-commerce websites do this by unimpaired optimization of their website. They make sure they stand out from the crowd and bag more deals by personalizing as much a possible.

    Website and Search Optimization

    Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Digital Marketing, Social Media, Keyword Analysis, etc are a few skills that are extremely important for any e-commerce sector. Here, search results play a crucial role to convert your audience into customers. Suggesting a product of interest is still an incomplete sale but making it compelling for consumer to not have second thoughts is the deal.

    A few e-commerce websites make sure they add fantastic coupons and promo codes that keep their consumers glued to their company.
    Eg: Uber Eats sold Square Pizzas worth Rs.30 on their website and this became extremely popular among college students for their pockets and love for pizza, it was a major hit.

    13 Ways to Market Your E-Commerce Website in 2019
    Having organized an ecommerce website is a job half done. The rest of the job isproper marketing of the website to gain more customers as more and moreindividuals become aware of the website, the sales increase and therebyestablish the virtual presence of the ecommerce initiative. As the word of…
    StartupTalkyYash Gupta

    Different types of people make contrasting choices depending upon various factors like age, gender, experiences, interests, etc. Some of them are impulsive buyers waiting for the trigger. A business has to be aware of what the customer demands might be in the near future and prepare accordingly.

    Simply put, to convert leads into sales, e-commerce businesses have to be aware and prepare for upcoming demands. To execute this flawlessly, collected data plays an important role. It’s imperative for businesses to catch certain keywords by the customers as well so that they know what a potential customer might wish to buy in the near future.

    Through artificial intelligence, e-commerce businesses keep an eye on everything. One might say that companies sell data to make suggestions that pop up on your social media. The advancement in technology is bringing up closer and helping people live up to their business dreams.

    Efficient Return Methods

    Since customers are unable to hand touch the products they buy they often resort to considering reviews. However, at times customers are still unsatisfied with certain products and wish to return them. In such cases, having a simple and efficient exchanging method helps to reduce customer’s anxiety and irritation.

    E-commerce businesses have to make sure that they have an easy return policy. When the return policies are too tedious, customers tend to keep the product and resort to negative word of mouth publicity or a bad review. This holistically affects the website’s reputation. Therefore companies make sure, that they are absolutely secure on this end by helping the customer.

    This is a major challenge for small e-commerce businesses as they have to pay extra logistics fee for singular items. Established businesses can pull this off, but sometimes they don’t and this leads to a downfall in their reputation.

    Easy Multiple Payment Options

    We’re going digital. We hardly use our physical wallets anymore. G-pay, PayPal etc are our wallets today and e-commerce business have to make sure that they are available on all channels whether national or international. Though the COD (Cash On Delivery) option is still used, most often resort to prepaying through credit and debit cards.

    Delhivery Success Story – Founders | How it Started | Business Model | Competitors
    Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified informationon different startups and organizations. The content in this post has beenapproved by the organization it is based on. When the brain hits you right, you think of wonderful ideas, one of the brainhitting ideas in the…
    StartupTalkyRishabh Rathi

    Since the lockdown, most money transactions are taking place online therefore it is imperative for all kinds of businesses, small or big to have multiple payment options for a smooth-running business.

    Failing to do so, especially in online shopping, if the customer finds any sort of restriction on any product they absolutely wish to buy they will visit competitor site and convert them into sales. This is horrific for a business. Therefore, most e-commerce businesses create deals and options to have their buyers hooked onto them.

    Supply Network

    A transaction is not entirely complete unless the product reaches the customer’s hand. There are times when deliveries are not up to mark. Problems like late deliveries or damaged products are unactable by the customers. E-commerce businesses have to make sure their products are properly sealed and delivered to their customer’s addresses.

    Quality research is important for hassle-free and timely deliveries. E-commerce platforms partner up with reputed logistics companies to make sure the products are safe and sound and satisfy the customers. When talking about Indian e-commerce businesses, one has to take special care of unavailability and difficult access to areas.

    Traditional Business Vs Digital Business
    This post deals with traditional business , digital business, business models,and an insight into traditional business vs digital business. Managing business is both challenging and interesting. It’s not like your 9-5government job where one reaches the office at or before a particular time, does…
    StartupTalkyDevashish Shrivastava

    Conclusion

    Indian E-commerce businesses have to overcome major challenges, every day. They beat all odds and make sure their business shine and are talked about all over the internet. With amazing advertising and marketing, Indian e-commerce platforms are soaring to new heights.

    FAQs

    What is cart abandonment?

    Customers generally add products to the cart and leave the website without making any purchase.

  • Online Shopping Tips That Can Save Your Money

    Online shopping industry has seen one of the most highest surge in recent times across the globe. With a wide range of e-commerce websites available and easy access to them through our mobile phones, laptops, tablets etc., consumers can buy anything and everything at their comfort without the actual hassle of driving to the store, finding a parking lot, walking through the store to find the products and often need to stand in long queues at the cash register.

    Shopping through e-commerce platforms helps consumers avoid these disadvantages. With online shopping, a person logs onto the Internet, visits the store’s website, and chooses the items she desires. The items are held in a virtual shopping cart until she is ready to make her purchase. The shopper can remain in her pajamas as she does her shopping, and the process can be conducted in the wee hours of the morning or late into the night. Online stores never close – they’re open 24 hours a day.

    · Online shopping is expanding so fast that the market size is expected to hit 4 trillion in year 2020.

    · The countries with leading average eCommerce revenue per shoppers are: USA ($1,804), UK ($1,629), Sweden ($1,446), France ($1,228), Germany ($1,064), Japan ($968), Spain ($849), China ($626), Russia ($396), and Brazil ($350).

    Shocking Growth of Shopping Apps in Pandemic [2020 Stats]
    The State of Growth of Shopping App Marketing 2020 reports that a mobilemarketing analytics and attribution platform, notes that India witnessed about a 250% increase in non-organic growth of shopping apps install during the strictlockdown period running from March. It shows that generally peopl…
    StartupTalkySouvik Dey

    · Atleast 67% of users admit to the fact that they use e-commerce websites to window shopping while idle on their smartphones.

    · 60% of consumers have used Chatbots to find answers to their queries while shopping online.

    Thus, it can be observed that online shopping has become a worldwide trend these days and in order to master the art of online shopping, here are some tips and tricks that you must know.

    Leave items in your online shopping cart:

    The most common and widely used method to save some bucks while shopping online is to select the items and add it to your shopping basket or cart and then leave it there for a day or two. This way, you can avoid impulsive purchase and the retailer will try to retain you by sending coupons and better prices on the next day. keep in mind that you have an account on the merchant’s website and you are logged in when you leave your cart.

    Shop on the right days

    A number of online stores roll out certain discounts and offers on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. It is also noted that Sunday is the best day to book cheap airline ticket while Monday is the most expensive day. Thus, even a Sunday afternoon lures you to shop your favourite dress, resist yourself till Wednesday for the best deals. Tuesday is the best day to purchase laptop and desktop computers as major retailers like Dell Home and Hewlett-Packard send out special coupons every Tuesday.

    How Has Technology Changed Shopping
    With the release of Covid-19 rules and regulations worldwide, many consumers and buyers are concerned about the safety of store visits. These are some examples of technology providers offering great solutions to improve social distance and improve buyer safety during this Covid-19.
    StartupTalkyATHUL C K

    Analyse the dynamic pricing before shopping

    Dynamic pricing is the online strategy used by merchants to show different prices to different customers  according to your location, your browsing and spending patterns and current demand of the product. For example: If you have searched for a laptop online and the next day when you visit the website, the price of the product shoots upto 30%. This is a part of dynamic pricing which tricks you into buying the expensive deal.

    To beat dynamic pricing you must:

    · Log out of your accounts (email, Facebook etc.)

    · Clear your browsing history and cookies in particular

    · Switch to incognito mode to visit the website

    · Use a VPN for clear slate

    · Choose less developed countries as home to get better prices

    Chatbots for price adjustments

    An AI chatbot is nothing but a software that engages the customer in conversations and provides rather specific answers to their immediate queries. The companies mainly make use of chat bots so they can increase their online sales.

    How AI Chatbot Increases Sales/ Sales Boost by AI Chatbot
    Artificial intelligence chatbots mainly distinguish themselves from other chatbots by their ability to understand the intentions behind the customer’s questions. Chatbots provide the precise information customers are looking for.
    StartupTalkyTanusha Verma

    You can use Chatbots with everything such as  extending the date for a coupon, getting exclusive discounts that aren’t advertised, honor a price-match policy, and more. Also, 24×7 availability of someone behind the screen, only if these conditions are fulfilled they will stay with you and keep engaging.

    Purchase electronics when a new or competitor’s product launches

    An important trick before buying electronic gadgets, you should time them with product price drops for amazing deals. Electronic items are often sold at lower prices when the dealers need to clear inventory for new launches.

    For example: If Samsung launches a new smartphone, you can compare the price with its rival company Oppo or Vivo to get the best deals.

    Seek price-drop refunds

    Suppose you bought a product and the very next day there is a sale on the same product, this can be annoying. In order to seek the price drop refund you can contact the retailer directly, some companies will refund you the price difference. Also, some credit cards provide price protection, you will get the difference price if the price drops, no matter where you shopped.

    Smart reward programs

    Some online shopping websites offer smart reward programs by doing some tasks such as by doing paid online surveys or merely browsing around product catalogs that can be exchanged to gift cards or special discounts. Some sites also offer points for simply watching videos and then you can redeem them as discounts from different online sites.

    Out of season shopping

    You can buy your woolen garments or seasonal furniture and seasonal decors during the after-season and post-holiday blowout sales as merchants may need to clear stock for next season’s items, you’ll score steep discounts and no one will know that it’s from last season, which definitely doesn’t exist when it comes to Christmas trees and outdoor tables.

    Compare price online before shopping

    In order to score the best deal out of a wide range of products, you can run smart price comparison checks through various tools such as Pricelink browser add-on, this will save your time by automatically comparing prices of the same product from different merchants. You can also know if there are some coupons available.