Way forward for the e-commerce industry

There was a time in the country when people were skeptical about ordering anything online as the chance of being deceived in many ways – wrong products delivered, product not up to the mark, no remedy in case of customer complaints – was very high. This is what kept people away from buying products/services online for long. Then, back in 2016, things started to change gradually for the better as customers started leaning towards, albeit slowly, online shopping. That is when e-commerce sector started flourishing in the country. In the following years, many e-commerce platforms emerged and many of them tried to live up to the expectations of the customers/consumers. Then, there came the coronavirus pandemic, which literally blew air to this industry and the e-commerce sector was ready to take off at a high speed.

The pandemic was like a shot in the arm for the e-commerce industry. The industry has experienced huge growth during the pandemic as cross-sections of buyers were more interested in buying essentials they need from online marketplaces, rather than going out and buy things from brick-and-mortar shops. Then again, when everything was experiencing a quick rebound, the Evaly fiasco came to the fore and everything was almost back to square one. The customers who were getting habituated to e-commerce lifestyle were once again skeptical and a question of trust hampered the whole credibility this industry earned in the previous few years. After lots of drama and scrutiny, this industry is again trying to regain the lost trust of the customers/consumers. So, what’s the way forward for this industry in the future?

The first challenge is for the e-commerce industry itself as it has to get back the lost trust of the customers if the sector wants to flourish in the long run. In order to build trust, e-commerce platforms have to take initiatives to educate the customers and the sellers as well. Especially, customer-centric educative initiatives will be much more helpful. There is no denying that this is an age of fierce competition and aggressive marketing strategies. To survive in such an ecosystem, different online marketplaces come up with lucrative offers from time to time, some of which are largely impractical and unrealistic. Such offers create imbalance in the market and develop a sense of greed among the customers. To stop such trend, e-commerce industry will have to run awareness campaigns so that the customers understand the fact that more is not necessarily the better. It is very natural that the consumers will resort to different tactics like showrooming and webrooming to get the desired products at best prices. But, it is also important to remember the incident of Evaly and other platforms that pulled the wool over buyers’ eyes by enticing them into buying things offered at very unreasonable prices. To keep people away from such marketing gambits, the industry will have to take steps to make them aware of the risk factors.

In the meantime, different platforms will have to be more careful and thoughtful while devising strategies for different campaigns. Everyone will have their own strategy to lure customers, but at the same time it is important that online marketplaces come up with offers that are reasonable and will, in no way, cause upheaval and imbalance in the market. For example – you cannot simply offer a car or bike at half its price because that’s not actually possible. In this case, the role of the regulators comes in. It is vital to ensure that everyone is following the Competition Act to maintain the balance. Section 294b of the Competition Act clearly states that no company can increase their sales by offering coupons, tickets and rewards to consumers while selling goods and services. It is stated in the Section 294b of the Competition Act, “Whoever offers, or undertakes to offer, in connection with any trade or business or sale of any commodity, any prize, reward or other similar consideration, by whatever name called, whether in money or kind, against any coupon, ticket, number or figure, or by any other device, as an inducement or encouragement to trade or business or to the buying of any commodity, or for the purpose of advertisement or popularizing any commodity, and whoever publishes any such offer, shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.”

Now the question is – are all the e-commerce platforms following this? If we go by this provision, then it is clear that Evaly and other questionable platforms were violating this law for a long time. So, what were the authorities concerned and more specifically the commerce ministry doing at that time? They have to be more serious about the duties they have been entrusted with and force the errant as well as abiding e-commerce platforms to run their operations adhering to the laws of the land.

It is very heartening to see that the government has finally taken some steps to bring discipline in this sector. The idea of issuing Unique Business IDs (UBIDs) to both website-based and social media-based e-commerce businesses is a good step. To run its operations, it’s mandatory to get UBID from the ministry. Whether a business will be given UBID registration or not will depend on satisfactory performance, which will be determined after scrutinizing promotional campaigns, customer reviews on products and deliveries, and feedback posted by consumers online. This process must be followed properly and there should be no loopholes for unscrupulous e-commerce businesses to exploit.

Most importantly, the ministry must make sure that the e-commerce platforms are doing business following the recently introduced Digital Commerce Operation Guidelines, 2021. In order to protect the interests of the customers, online marketplaces need to follow the guidelines. Only then, customers/consumers’ confidence in e-commerce platforms will grow. If they turn back to online shopping in full force, good days for this industry will be back again riding out the uncertainty. All the stakeholders involved in this industry must work together and put all-out efforts if they really want to sustain the growth momentum in the near future.

The writer is a communications professional. He can be contacted at malammohabbat@gmail.com