eCommerce Blog

It was about 5 years ago but I still remember when my refrigerator stopped working two days after I ordered it from Sears. It took me more than 8 phone calls to get the situation addressed. I remember calling different customer service hotlines and finally getting a resolution after contacting some internal departments. All this happened when I was working at Sears!! I shared my experience with the appropriate groups in the hopes that others wouldn’t have to go through similar frustration. However, at that moment, I couldn’t help but empathize with the situation of other customers who had no good means to “escalate” the issue within the appropriate internal departments. .

Fast forward 5 years – enter the connected world! I recently visited MySears.com and was amazed at the community involvement! Even though you see customers occasionally venting about product issues and their experiences, what is really impressive is that Sears has taken a bold step to let it all out in the open. They have provided an online platform where Customers are free to post their experiences. This is bold because it demonstrates leadership as well as compassion that Sears not only cares about listening to their customers, they are also not afraid of letting customers openly talk about their experiences online, however negative they might be. Interestingly, Read the rest of this entry »

Wow! What an interesting year! This economy has had a sobering effect across all industries, especially the online industry! Several businesses that appeared to be immune to any down-turn are now thinking hard about survival. However, there are signs that the worst may be behind us. Little rays of sunshine are visible in the form of new ventures and start-ups that have done extremely well despite of the recession. I think the last 12-15 months have forced everyone to think hard about no-frills business models and getting back to basics. More than ever, these are the times that require a strong commitment, passion and a strong focus to get across the other side of this storm. I strongly believe that in the next 3-4 years, when we look back, this would definitely be a pivotal year for the online industry with highly sustainable and healthy online business models emerging from it.

I’ve been following the US and India eCommerce industry very closely during the last several years.  I have met quite a few talented individuals who are either in the process of or have already built a good online offering. However, I feel there is still a huge opportunity to take the online shopping to the next level and this may be just the right timing to go after that opportunity.

I have now decided to focus on building a next generation shopping portal for US and India market that combines the power of communities, user content as well as product customization in a game-changing way. Read the rest of this entry »