The Future of e-Commerce

The colossal boom in the field of information technology has opened up many doors. This phenomenon of ‘E-commerce’ is sweeping across the entire business world, from big-time corporate to small home-run business, and revolutionizing the way we buy and sell. Whistling Woods Neeta Lulla School of Fashion gave an opportunity to young aspirants to get a glimpse into the future of E-commerce through ‘The Future of Fashion Forum’, held on 25 January 2014.

Experts like Rahul Naverkar, who is the CEO at NDTV Ethnic Retail Limited and Co-founder & Director, Brand Sourcing at Fashion and You, along with Krsna Mehta, Founder & Design Director, India Circus Retail Pvt Ltd and Dhimaan Shah, Co-Founder & Managing Director of stylecracker.com spoke about the Significance of E-Commerce in Promoting Indian Fashion.

Rahul Naverkar      Dhimaan Shah         Krsna Mehta   

Rahul Naverkar is of the opinion that E-commerce is a huge enabler for young talent. The online experience really is the best way of reaching out to customers once you get the order, and that is the only major differentiator to regular retail channels. Of course, the front end also differs. Rahul discussed the mentality of the Indian buyer, who is not averse to paying big bucks for brands or products he or she likes instantly. An unknown brand starting purely online lacks credibility, and it needs a physical presence to attain volumes. Once credible enough, online selling is a perfect medium. From a marketing perspective, he opined that lots of brands went online, but very few understood the cost of buying Google ad words, bidding and other expenses related to bringing in relevant traffic. This is the biggest challenge alongside finding the right talent for E-commerce.

Dhimaan Shah jumped in by saying that if technology is leveraged correctly, people are open to it. Just setting up a website won’t ensure views; it takes time along with the presence of offline stores. Dhimaan was cogent in saying Facebook likes and Twitter followers feed only an ego, the real metric of value are signups and sales.

And last, but not the least, Krsna Mehta focuses on Fast Fashion as today’s buzzword. Marketing online is maddening, where social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter play an important role. He gave a winning formula of planning your spend and making it go hand-in-hand with social media. He believes that sites which educate their customers will lead the way in the future. E-commerce is a fantastic enabler for businesses, and utilizing it properly could supercharge your sales in a manner you never imagined possible!