Online Auctions in India Set for Huge Growth
The online retail market in India is growing at around 60% annually mostly fuelled by auction sites such as the former BaaZee. eBay took over the local India based BaaZee in August last year and is busily integrating the acquisition into the global eBay portal.
Apparently Online retail in India is no longer only about buying flowers and gifts. Giving up the touch and feel experience of shopping for the speed and convenience of buying from home, is what many Indians are quickly getting used to. BaaZee, now eBay.in is used to sell phones, IT products and jewellery as well as a wide range of other domestic and imported items.
Besides the convenience factor, many Indian retailers are finding that by cutting down on the selling and distribution costs, they can offer branded products including cosmetics, jewellery and consumer electronics products between 7% and 30% cheaper than in their own retail outlets.
Given that the cost of living in India is around one tenth of the USA and Western Europe, this increasing trend towards selling Indian sourced products on the world market through “buy it now” and auctions like eBay mean that fantastic bargains can be had.
But there is still an issue at the moment with eBay since items listed on eBay.in do not automatically show on eBay.com eBay.uk etc unless an international search is performed. Since most eBay buyers browse or search by default within their own country sites this means that many eBay.in sellers are registering directly with local countries to make their items more easily visible.
Will India use eBay and similar online shopping and auction portals to massively boost its’ export sales direct to the global consumer marketplace – probably the answer over the coming 1 or 2 years is a resounding yes!
Apparently Online retail in India is no longer only about buying flowers and gifts. Giving up the touch and feel experience of shopping for the speed and convenience of buying from home, is what many Indians are quickly getting used to. BaaZee, now eBay.in is used to sell phones, IT products and jewellery as well as a wide range of other domestic and imported items.
Besides the convenience factor, many Indian retailers are finding that by cutting down on the selling and distribution costs, they can offer branded products including cosmetics, jewellery and consumer electronics products between 7% and 30% cheaper than in their own retail outlets.
Given that the cost of living in India is around one tenth of the USA and Western Europe, this increasing trend towards selling Indian sourced products on the world market through “buy it now” and auctions like eBay mean that fantastic bargains can be had.
But there is still an issue at the moment with eBay since items listed on eBay.in do not automatically show on eBay.com eBay.uk etc unless an international search is performed. Since most eBay buyers browse or search by default within their own country sites this means that many eBay.in sellers are registering directly with local countries to make their items more easily visible.
Will India use eBay and similar online shopping and auction portals to massively boost its’ export sales direct to the global consumer marketplace – probably the answer over the coming 1 or 2 years is a resounding yes!
