A lot has changed these past few years. No, I’m not talking about how I now weight 85 kilos and am no longer the trim 57 kilo large-eyed short fellow who has ‘a really good voice’. I’m also not talking about how the political profile of our country is now different nor am I talking about how much disposable income seems to be floating around.
But wait… this last mention about income is relevant to what I have to say. People have money and they will to buy but they do it all from the comfort of their homes… or offices, if that gives you the vicarious pleasure of pointing out how well-versed we are with doing shopping during office hours. I don’t have the figures with me, but I’m sure they will say a lot about everything from decision-making about appliances to the time taken by one file to move from table to another in an office. Let me just add here that the sentence used most often today, is: ‘Let me check if it is available!’ Obviously, the reference is to online shopping… and in times when concepts like Flipkart’s Big Billion Sale are making an impact, it pays to understand what online buying and consumption is all about.
Consumption curves invariably come with charming nuggets of information… and Dheeraj Sinha, in his book ‘India Reloaded’ says that issues like ‘rural distribution, finding a way around a lack of cold chain, and managing traditional trade along with modern trade’ cannot be taken lightly by any online or offline store. After he has compared prices and knows that a product shall be delivered to his town or city or village what matters most to an Indian consumer is if his purchase will be delivered on time, intact, and without shocks like finding the box couriered to him empty!
I did what anyone wanting to understand a consumer would want to do… call up friends from all over India and ask them what they thought of the way the concept of online shopping has evolved. Among the wonderfully glee-infused responses that I got there were some that mentioned about the improved packaging, adherence to delivery schedules, and the inclusion of alternative payment modules. The discussion also invariably veered towards campaigns like Flipkart’s Big Billion Sale and if such concepts were what the Indian consumer is really looking for.
‘Price does matter,’ I said, ‘after all one of the major reasons why I use book shops for an easy browse and decision-making but making the final purchase online is because I get my favourite books at a price that the offline store will never really offer.’ The same is the case with gadgets, devices, clothing, furniture, cosmetics… and I guess, everything else in this world. I want it all there and I want it for less.
‘Let me check if it is available’ is a phrase is loaded with a lot of faith of the Indian consumer because it invariably points out towards online availability… and during campaigns Flipkart’s Big Billion Sale these seven words become a substrate where the seed of happiness can easily germinate! These kind of online bonanzas are probably easier to access with apps getting better and with less number of irksome tech glitches… though I will talk about the app vs web debate in another article because this issue isn’t at all about carrying decision-making in your pocket. However, for now, let’s go with the premise that it is the convenience of accessing the availability of your needs any time that enthuses the Indian consumer. You just need to drop in at our home in the evening and you’ll find Specky (my wife) and I snuggled and busy talking about all the money to be saved without having to move out into the absolutely horrendous, hazardous, and hateful traffic jams that need to be negotiated to reach a real store.
Yes, online stores are fine for us. Online sale is good enough. I guess what we are doing is better than even the car-pooling efforts by the government and the NGOs because we travel at a much faster speed without the fear of being fatally nudged by an errant truck driven by a drunk driver! We are the online warriors and all that we really need is the fuel that campaigns like Flipkart’s Big Billion Sale invariably distribute generously… go ahead and do this more often.
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The newage consumers
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Arvind Passey
28 October 2015
3 comments
Acharya Srinivasa says:
Nov 2, 2015
Gillette, Asus and flipkart.. kept going to next post trying to look for something interesting to read, but unfortunately only found sponsored posts about products, and am sure you were paid to write these.. not the way I would like to spend time allocated to blog browsing 🙂
Arvind Passey says:
Nov 3, 2015
Thanks for writing to me, buddy. You’re both right and wrong… yes, product reviews do put off some readers but that is because they are nothing other than a regurgitation of some press release. My reviews are neither a copy of specs nor a release for a PR effort. Yes, some posts are paid, though not all. What you as a reader need to see is if there is any creative merit in the expression… if the post gives creative joy to a reader. I guess most of my reviews do that — they can be books, devices, gadgets, services…
I am just back from attending Kumaon Lit Fest where I was talking about blogging… and these posts happened as they were already past their deadline. I do try to have such reviews in between other posts and never together — and anyway I do not get too many such assignments.
However, I must add here that I do love writing these reviews as for me they are as much a challenge as would be an essay on cow slaughter, which is also going to be uploaded any day now.
Hope to see you coming back… and appreciating the fact that not all reviewers copy press releases. 🙂
Arvind Passey says:
Nov 3, 2015
By the way, you must also have set some sort of a world record for having opted for three consecutive product reviews out of the 985 posts on my blog. 🙂