Why not to shop at the malls again!!

Before I start off with my blog, I would like to ask you as to when was the last time you went shopping to your nearest shopping mall? A week ago, a month back, and some would probably say that they have these virtual stores to shop for them and deliver goods like a trained pet, right? Hence, the question arises that with so much that an online store has to offer, do we really need shopping malls at all?

As the famous saying goes, “There is nothing permanent in this world except change”, it can be easily applied to the ever-changing trends in the retail industry. The whole 'sale and purchase' idea got a new meaning with the advent of online version of shopping. Today, it would not be advisable for any educated online shopper to hop back to shopping at the malls.

The big players in the online retail scene in India are trying every trick in their bags to convert online users into traffic and then converting it into visitors, then into buyers and finally, into a loyal consumer base. For this, the focus has shifted from merely providing products online to social communities and special offers which can only be availed at these virtual stores.

With the prospects of becoming a long-term successful industry, major e-stores like Indiamart, Futurebazaar, Retailsdirect and Indiaplaza are relying heavily on the online retail boom. They are leaving no stone unturned in accelerating the conversion rate of its user traffic. The most bankable factor for drawing in consumers from the offline domain is the 'convenience' factor of online shopping.

The most effective strategies of the major Indian e-stores are as follows:

- Indiamart:
It is a common platform for the online buyers and sellers, i.e., a B2B marketplace.
Highlights – Upcoming trade shows, divergent industry updates, international trade leads, tender notice via emails etc.

- Futurebazaar:
The finest brands online, user-friendly and simple design.
Highlights – Clearance sales, buying in bulk offers

- Retailsdirect:
India's first interactive store with a Video-Voice-Text-Chat facility.
Highlights- Group Bargains (Savings of upto 33% on products by creating groups to bargain), Cafe Retail (Earn redeemable RD coins, upload videos and photos)

- Indiaplaza:
US based shopping portal meant for trading and shipping to India and worldwide.
Highlights – Airtel gift certificates, Gifts to India.

The above strategies are a clear indication that the trend of online shopping is not merely restricted to the selection and buying process. One can use the wide reach and accessibility of the internet and various social media tools to develop interest and loyalty among the customers. So the next time you feel like shopping, chuck out shopping at the over-crowded malls and rather catch up with friends online and relax while you shop for your favourite products.

E-commerce Sites Ensuring Secure Shopping Experience

With the ever-sinking economy, retail, especially online retail, is the only industry on its upward trail. The e-commerce sector has been on an ascending curve but the growth has been slow in comparison than the expected trend. But why could online retail be lagging behind the online marketeers' expectations? There is only one word answer to this, INSECURITY.

One of the biggest drawbacks of shopping with the online medium is the amount of risk involved in the money transaction process. There are occasions where one can get his identity or credit card information stolen online itself. How? This could simply be done through hackers or someone who is involved wit h the inner workings of the customer payment section of the e-commerce websites as they have open accessibility to customer account details and related databases.

What is worse in this case is that you might actually land a victim of cyber crime in a bid to save some time, fuel and money. Today, e-commerce websites are trying to carefully maintain and sustain their consumer-base through their own online security strategies, realizing customer aloofness due to the occurrence of such scams in the past. Particularly in India, more than the inaccessibility of the internet at most places, it is the 'trust' factor keeps buyers off the shopping portals.

To combat this factor, major shopping portals like Indiamart, Futurebazaar, Retailsdirect and Indiaplaza have come up with special security strategies and safer online transaction methods to protect personal information of their consumers.

Some of the valuable methods employed by these virtual stores for protecting user account information include:

- Usage of softwares which enable changing one's credit card number, name, bank account, login information, and email ID
- Protection of the customer email ID against fraud, spam, viruses, and phishing (defrauding online account and financial information) is being ensured
- Usage of online accounts like Paypal which come loaded with a bunch of features ensuring one-time entry of your credit card numbers to avoid hacking etc.
- Provision of using e-generated credit card umbers instead of actual credit card numbers on some e-commerce websites
- Most shopping portals also use secure web servers to avoid peeping third parties
SSL certification and contact details are mentioned to instill trust in the consumers' mind

Overall, the online medium is a convenient way of buying you-name-it-and-you have-it items on the Internet. But the convenience and easy access has resulted in a number of loopholes in the inter-connected system exploited by cyber criminals. Therefore, ensuring a secure online store is of utmost importance. The security of a medium can only lead to its growth and expansion even in the remotest of areas.