Wednesday, January 31, 2018

The other view

So after 10 years of regular blogging, 2017 clearly marked itself as the year when I officially stopped being a regular. However, I do wish to begin 2018 with a Happy New Year note to all :) and with it comes my 2 cents on the changing, or rather not changing trends on the technology driven offline vs online, in an emerging economy like India, which quite reflected my thoughts here as well. As a millennial Indian consumer i pen down what i personally observe.

       Offline shopping still gives a very good competition to offline and is here to stay for a while – Why I say so? Well, it definitely takes a bigger share of my wallet and the people around. Even the most important moment of truths as a consumer be it apparels, books, or electronics still happen around offline. Thanks to the not such a developed technology infrastructure even in tier 1 cities like Hyderabad/bangalore (where the quality of mobile internet has its own regular doubtful moments). Add to it the backend infrastructure and challenges in logistics, the reduced trust on the reverse logistics and so on! It might still take some time before the complete life cycle of E Commerce develops, for it to overtake the regular brick and mortar.

Having seen my husband try his hands on subscription model (in furniture), I personally think it still seems to be more of a fashionable thing to do rather than a financial decision. Thanks but no thanks Amazon, I do not wish to subscribe to the grocery items which you give an option to, I would rather like to keep my options open when it comes to choosing the purchase the next month and these also include the offline deals which I pass by along with the dozen of mobile notifications I get from the ever upcoming local online competitors which just can’t seem to stop mushrooming even after a perceived investment slowdown in online retail. So, though subscription is an interesting option when it comes to models like netflix but yet to take over the mainstream business!
    
     Now local transport is an interesting area where my wallet share has completely skewed (and wallet blown over quite literally). From what used to be a once in a while indulgence in ride hailing apps, it is now becoming a regular habit, thanks to the convenience offered. It comes with its own disadvantage, the discounts seem to have finished from the cab rental market, and the supply demand totally owns the quality as well as price of the service. But irrespective of that wait, did I hear Uber buying a fleet of cars from Volvo?

So when we think the technology is changing the business (which it definitely is), a check on when and how far can bring some interesting insights as well!