Whether it's financial concerns or fear of terrorism on the streets, e-shops are doing good business in India this season.

Initial indications suggest that e-shopping sites like ebay.com, indiatimes.com, futurebazaar.com, indiaplaza.in, saleraja.com, naaptol. com and compareindia.com have improved on last year’s performance.

Of all the sectors, e-commerce has been the only sector that looks bright this festive season. Deepa Thomas, senior manager of corporate communications and pop culture for Ebay India said, "The whole idea was to make it simple for the customers. We have two million registered users and we got a double-digit growth in traffic, both for visitors as well as buyers. There is a growth of 10 per cent from last year."

Indiatimes.com has been able to register 60 per cent growth on the same period last year, confirms Ashish Vijh, head of e-commerce. He said the reason for growth is the increasing number of tech-savvy customers. "A physical store is the mainstream, whereas internet is still small in comparison with the former. Thus, the threats around market places need not necessarily affect a customer’s mind to go for online shopping as a buyer has to be tech-savvy and must have a connection at home to opt for e-shopping."

Thomas feels global economic meltdown has made buyers very particular about where they shop, and that this is one of the main reasons behind the growth of e-commerce. Terror threats in the country and parking problems in all major cities have also played a role in getting customers online. X

Check Out
Financial Express