eCommerce Blog

So you have built a decent looking eCommerce website, pumped up the marketing spend and you are getting good amount of visitors on the site. However, you are facing a problem that most of the newer online retailers face initially – your conversion rate is extremely low. You are baffled why majority of the visitors are not purchasing anything on the site and you ask your head of marketing to look for the answers. Although having a good marketing plan and execution is necessary in bringing visitors... (more...)

Last week I flew back to Chicago from Delhi and although I cant really say that I enjoyed any part of that 14 hours + flight, I did get a lot of time to think about the cultural differences between American and Indian consumers. For retailer to be successful in India, it is important to take into account these differences and customize the offerings to better meet the motivations and preferences of the Indian customer. First and foremost, Indian customers love to touch and feel the products before... (more...)

I finally experienced it – the unevitable reality of staying in Delhi – a power cut! Sitting in the darkness, waiting for the generator to pickup, I thought – imagine you are asked to play a game of darts in a room that is pitch-dark. You throw the darts in all possible directions, hoping that atleast one of them will hit the bullseye. When the lights are switched on, you find out that although a couple of darts came close, most other ended up far away from the target. This sounds... (more...)

The other day I visited a website called Kaboodle.com which is an online shopping community where users can build, maintain and share online collections of their favorite products with other users. There is even a style compatibility test on the site where users can see how compatible they are with other users in terms of their shopping habits, taste and style. Since then, I have been thinking everyday about the role online communities will play in eCommerce and then it finally struck me (more…) AKPC_IDS... (more...)

Having led the eCommerce team at Sears, I often reflect upon what helped us grow our online revenues from about $20 million in 1999 to almost $1 Billion in 2006? Although I do think that technology played a key role in that growth, it wasn’t the primary reason. An incident during one of the Christmas seasons helped me answer this question.  Christmas is the peak season in US for all retailers and majority of the online and B&M sales occur during this time frame. This is the time when kids... (more...)

I often think about my shopping experience at an online retailer in US – Landsend.com. I purchased a shirt from this retailer using their web site. I typically do not purchase apparel online, because of concerns related to fit and quality. However, I liked the shirt and decided to purchase it. Although the purchase experience was great, the story doesn’t end here. One year later, I called them to purchase some additional clothes. At this point, I casually mentioned to the CSR that I wasn’t... (more...)

I have been thinking for a long time to start a blog on eCommerce in India and finally decided to take the plunge. In this blog, I will be posting various topics around opportunities in eCommerce and some of the best practices that can take eCommerce in our country to the next level. Before I begin this journey, let me introduce myself. My name is Darpan Munjal and I recently moved to India after working for about 12 years in retail industry within US. Most recently, I was the Divisional Vice President... (more...)