<p>Globally 'internet of things' has seen the past decade as more of a pursuit of innovative web tools to collaborate giving rise to a sharing economy and e-commerce era. Industry estimates indicate that the next five years will likely see the Indian e-commerce industry to clock a CAGR of 35 per cent and cross the $100-billion mark. It is estimated that over 65 million consumers in India will buy online by this year end from a 40 million last year. Besides Tiger Global, Sequoia, and Naspers amongst others, this year Indian e-commerce segment also saw new investors like DST Global, Soft Bank, BlackRock, etc. Tier II, III and IV markets are expected to come closer with planning infrastructure advancement that the new political regime may undertake thereby improving logistics and delivery time.<br><br>While the last few years have seen an upsurge of many online companies big and small, there are yet fewer success stories sharing information about their profitability and organic growth. India is beholding a sea of disruption. E-tailing became a buzz word since last year. Flipkart, Snapdeal, Myntra, Jabong, Home Shop18, Yepme, Limeroad, Olx etc seem to have witnessed an extreme hype during the festival month. Flash sales received a boost from concepts like Singles Day, Big Bang Day, GOSF etc. The prices are extremely competitive. Freebies are a usual thing. Latest is that discerning Indian customers eventually have started to feel these as gimmicks as the discounts are becoming too regular now. Price fails to remain as a differentiator.<br> </p><table style="width: 300px;" align="right" border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5"><tbody><tr><td><img alt="" src="http://bw-image.s3.amazonaws.com/Yasho-V-Verma.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 300px;"></td></tr><tr><td><em><strong>Dr Yasho V Verma</strong></em></td></tr></tbody></table><p>What all new may entice an astute buyer entails the selling or marketing strategy entirely. As the tech online players may like to understand, what marketing or sales tactic may act as a growth hack for them may decide their future in an ever changing and ever growing e-retailing world.<br><br>A global entrant like Jet.com joins the rank as the newest club retailer and is seen offering prices lowest possible but that is not their core strategy. It isn't just about penny-pinching but also about creating a more personalized experience for shoppers. They have a unique selling preposition to allow discounts for repeat customers in a week urging them to buy more often allowing a more consistent sales curve, customers are encouraged to "Jet Anywhere" and shop on other affiliate merchant sites. When Jet first launched to a small number of beta testers (insiders program), its customer relations team sent out handwritten notes to customers after they made their first purchase. Since then, Jet reps have been encouraged to handwrite at least one note to a person they've interacted with during the day. In order for Jet's business model to work, it needs to sell $20 billion worth of merchandise annually. Jet cofounder Marc Lore thinks the company will hit that mark in the next five years. Amazon was generating a little more than $19 billion in sales annually in its first five years. Much like Amazon, Jet is focused on bringing its customers value and developing a loyal following. It is expected that Jet.com may spend $100 million on advertising and marketing to create unambiguous value proposition to enable volume of shoppers to the site.<br><br>Another mention is that of Roposo that is positioning itself as a dedicated fashion social network that shares everything that is fashion - hairstyles, nail enamels, stilettos, lingerie and ways of wearing them in a unique way every time. Then there is a localbaniya.com or grofers.com trying to sell monsoon special offers along with fresh and organic monsoon fruits for your basket! These are illustrations of how Flipkart and Amazon started as their USP is going beyond the mundane of regular feedback, reviews and on time product delivery. Rankings and ratings may soon lose relevance too. Social networks are replacing the traditional word of mouth way where one-on-one feedback is considered paramount. It is a known fact that likes of Flipkart, Amazon, Jet.com have deeper pockets and wider visibility through paid form of all round advertising, the followers may find it a lot more difficult to advertise with costs increasingly becoming unbearable.<br><br>If you see few other seemingly similar looking online startups like Pepperfry, Urban Ladder, LivSpace, et all, they all have picked up a niche market but may still differ in offerings to that of another. A solid wood furniture provider may be the USP of one, another may be offering Italian design and the third may be selling an entire concept of designing a room or a corner of your living space rather than focusing on selling per units of a furniture. So one observes after a closer look that each may have a fair chance of survival in a niche industry and further niche in the way they package their offerings. What also remarkably make them look different is they customize the product as per an order (size, color, delivery) and neatly package it as per the type of the product providing an anticipating customer with joy at the sight of delivery and further reinstating quality at the very first interaction with the brand.<br><br>In India, traditional retail channel still covers 90-95 per cent share and until an online player acquires a double digit market share in retail segment, they still rule the game. Though there seems lesser skepticism now than perhaps five years earlier on proven success of e-commerce ventures it may still be considered a better cousin of dot com companies that went bust in 90's. Even then, Bill Gates had implied a possibility that even if 95% businesses fail, it will create enough content for the humanity and empower them with the knowledge. Businesses failed then largely due to lack of revenue models and that seems common to ecommerce models too. It may not be ideal to compare dotcoms with ecommerce platforms of today where physical exchange of goods may still be less at this point in time but then remains a revenue streaming model that needs acceleration. Well thought marketing strategies will provide these startups with the required impetus.<br><br>Akin to dotcoms, it may be harsh to predict about ecommerce companies, but the way market is behaving seems the ones to survive would have become very large to maneuver market dynamics or would have achieved success in demonstrating core disruption in a niche industry and deeper niche in a service or a product.<br><br>E-commerce is not content relevant neither it demonstrates any lucrative commercial value as yet, but if it proves itself in another few years, it will certainly be a leap in 'retail of things' and most of them would have sorted their sail boats to traverse well the vast blue ocean.<br><br><em>The author, Dr Yasho V Verma, is a management thinker & philosopher</em></p>
