INDEX chapter no.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

Content
Executive Summary Problem of research Objective of Study Literature review Research methodology Logistics Management Importance Logistic Functions Advantages of logistic Logistics activities The Evolution of logistics and supply chain management Logistics Management Process Logistics: inbound and outbound Global trend of E-commerce Global market share of E-commerce Broad difference between traditional and Etailing

page no.
4 5 6 7-14 15-16 17-20 22 23-24 25-27 28-30 31-34 35 36-38 39-40 41 42-45

17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36.

Indian trend Indian market size and Growth Advantages & Disadvantages of E-commerce Essential Strategy by E-commerce Customer relationship strategy by all Ecommerce Effective strategy by E-tailing company Industry challenges in E-commerce History of flipkart Industry challenges for flipkart Distribution network of Flipkart SWOT Analysis of Flipkart History of Amazon Over view of How Amazon operates Marketing strategy by Amazon SWOT Analysis of Amazon Observation & Conclusion Recommendation Bibliography Limitation Annexure

46-51 52-54 53-60 61-66 67 68-71 72-76 77-79 80-81 82 83 84 86-89 90 91 92-102 103 104 105 106

PROJECT REPORT ON

A DETAILED STUDY ON ROLE OF LOGISTIC IN ONLINE SHOPPING WITH RESPECT TO FLIPKART AND AMAZON IN INDIA

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Due to increasing competition, high cost of acquisition and distribution of products including raw material, increased service levels demanded by the customers and shrinking profits- have faced the management to realize the need and importance of efficient management of physical flow of raw materials, components/ parts, spares, work-in-progress and finished goods from suppliers through the customers. Every organization, whether manufacturing or service sector, required a system for integrating and coordinating functional activities for ensuring smoothen flow at lowest total cost. Logistic management has been evolved to achieve such as integration. Logistic management is also known by various other names such as total physical distribution, complete flow management and supply management, as well as known as integrated logistics management. A logistics manager has to manage the complete flow of materials, which include movement of raw material from suppliers, in process within the firm and 16 movements of finished goods to the customers. As well as information flow covering reports and documentation relating to goods movement. The project report also suggests the way to achieve logistical mission, coordination of specific jobs, which must be perform within the areas of physical distribution, manufacturing support and procurement. To achieve logistics competency by coordinating five elements (network design, information, material handling, warehousing and packaging).

PROBLEM OF RESEARCH
Research Analysis Demand for online shopping; As it is growing rapidly with the online shoppers increasing company started to trade through internet. The researcher analysis the increase in growth ratio with transparency and online transaction security. Trust inculcate by online shoppers on internet and company. The researcher would make the research company on two leading online sites i.e. Flipkart and Amazon for research. Thus, the research would help further company to inside online shopping for academic & research worker.

OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
1. To understand the exact nature of transaction security concerns of Indian consumers. 2. To search for possible solutions for the transaction security concerns. 3. To explore other reasons that prevents online shopping in India. 4. To find the future potential of online shopping in India. 5. Online retailers should have their own warehouses & fulfil most of the orders from their inventory only. 6. Amazon should adapt just-in-time techniques for prompt delivery 7. To study the competition between Flipkart and Amazon (national & international company) 8. Online retailer has to kept safety stock. 9. What steps an e-retailing format companies should take to increase the profitability. 10. To analyse whether delivery days for both cash on delivery and prior payment are same or not?

LITERATURE REVIEW
There are a number of research works have been done by researchers but only a few has been given, related to the paper. The costs of a retail format refer to consumers costs. Consumers incur non-monetary costs time, effort and psychological costs - as well as monetary costs. Savings in non-monetary costs are especially emphasized by non-store formats. Their appeal to consumers has been the ease and convenience of shopping, freed from location and other constraints.

A) Supply Chain Management: Concepts and Cases

Author: Rahul Altekar

In response to the increasing significance attached to supply chain management in both academic and professional areas, this text intends to build a bridge and highlight the relationship between various disciplines of SCM like demand planning, manufacturing planning, logistics planning, analytical IT management, global e-biz modelling, performance benchmarking etc. Primarily intended to address the typical and general syllabus requirements of postgraduate management programmes, and

undergraduate and postgraduate engineering programmes, this book also caters to the needs of the industry professionals in the supply chain domain.

B) Supply Chain Management

Author: John T Mentzer, Sage Publications

This book provides structure and clarity for a much talked about, but poorly understand, functional requirement of business which directly relates to profitability for all members of the supply chain. This book is one of the most comprehensive collections of supply chain analytics ever compiled comparing numerous multi-dimensions models in a number of matrix environment.

C) Supply chain management

Author: JayashreeDubey, M.L. Sai Kumar

Competitive environment of modern times is forcing the firm to shift focused from inside the corporate walls to collaboration with outside trading patterns. Enhanced communication technology has redefined how business work together, race customers expectations and placed new demands on supply chain performance. Internet has allowed companies to come up with highly innovative solution that accelerate the widespread adoption of core principles of supply chain management. Companies that make use of ebusiness to redefine supply chain integration achieve significant increase in their efficiency and competitive edge over their competitors. The next few years will see an explosion of e-enable new paradigms of e-business for the future.

D) Exploring the supply chain theory and practice. By Upendra Kachru,

First edition: New Delhi, 2009

Supply chain management is a revolutionary way of looking at the processes involved in buying. The book elaborates the basic concepts of supply chain management involved in buying & provides a

comprehensive coverage of the methodology & key strategic drivers in the different processes involved in operating & designing a supply chain.

E) Supply Chain Management, Strategy Planning & Operation

Author: Sunil chopra& Peter Meindl Edition: III The main objective of this well-established text is to enable the students to understand the strategic importance of good supply chain design, planning & operation for every firm. It explains in detail how good supply chain management adds to a firms competitive advantage while weakness in the supply chain adversely affects the performance of the firm. This third addition is expanded to include the cross functional supply chain drivers of sourcing & pricing. A new chapter on supply chain metrics is added to enable the readers to understand what ought to be measured and why it is important to do so. There is also a significant enhancement in the text with the added IT focused sections within individual chapters to show the IT permeates through virtually all supply chain functions.

F) The Icfai university journal of supply chain management

The paper published in this issue offer theoretical as well as practical insights that hold immense vale to the practice & research of supply chain management. The bullwhip effect is well known phenomenon & it affects the supply chain management process. This phenomenon results in order distortion and increasing amount of upstream variability in the orders placed at various levels in supply chain.

G) Supply Chain Management

Author: Rene de Kster Edition 2005

The popularity of supply chain management in theory and practice is still increasing. This book provides a unique overview of current research trends and practice in the field from European scholars.

Departing at selected theoretical inquires on prominent concepts and methodologies in the supply chain field (e.g. theoretical foundations, 4PL concept, configurationally approaches), the contributions in this volume cover highly relevant topics along a generic supply chain upstream activates relation to modular ratio, the development of logistical capabilities, but also order picking optimization in warehouses, distribution network design heuristics and issues of urban freight transportation operations are among the topics treated.

H) Supply chain management: a structured literature review and implications for future research, Kevin Burgess, Prakash J. Singh, RanaKoroglu
Journal: International Journal of Operations &Production Management

The field of supply chain management (SCM) has historically been informed by knowledge from narrow functional areas. While some effort towards producing a broader organizational perspective has been made, nonetheless, SCM continues to be largely eclectic with little consensus on its conceptualization and research methodological bases. This paper seeks to clarify aspects of this emerging perspective.

I) Business Logistics/ Supply Chain Management

Author: Ronald H. ballou Edition: fifth

This book is about the vital subject of business logistics/ supply chain an areas of management that has been observed to absorb as much a s60 to 80 % of a firms sales dollar & that can be essential to a firms competitive strategy * revenue generation. This management area has been described by many names, including physical distribution, material management, transportation management, and logistics & now supplies chain management.

J) Retail Management
Author: Swapna Pradhan Indian Retail Industry is very old, but when being compared to World/ Global Retail it still has a long way to go. Though there are many problems faced in India with respect to its infrastructure, it still has a high potential for becoming a future Hotspot. India is standing on the verge of having the pleasure to hold 2010 Olympic Games. Its retail business meter shows only about 7% organized retail in India. It means that a whopping 93% market is yet to be captured by entrepreneurs.

K)Logistics And Supply Chain Management

Author: Raghuram

This book is a compilation of cases and notes documenting various problem contexts and their resolution approaches. It is primarily intended as a study text for case-based modules, courses on logistics and supply chain management as part of training and educational programmes in management.

According to Rao (1999)

E-commerce offers increased market activity for retailers in the form of growing market access and information and decreased operating and procurement costs. The consumers can gain better prices due to the competition and also can enrich their knowledge on goods and services.

Zhang and von Dran (2000)

Have found that certain aesthetic elements of a web-site are considered as purchase motivators, while other aesthetic elements serve as hygienic factors (i.e., necessities) in purchase decisions from e-retailers. The colour and background images of webpage are also found to affect consumer choice.Tractinsky and Rao (2001) have argued that computer users, particularly those who seek online substitutes to the physical shopping experience, would value aesthetic designs just like consumers of other commodities.

Ratchford et al. (2001)

Have told that through Internet, consumers can gather information about merchandise and they compare a product across suppliers at a low cost. They also can effectively analyse the offerings and easily locate a low price for a specified product. Eroglu et al. (2001) have advocated that the most important thing in the traditional retailing is physical store setting. According to them, it is largely determined by the cost of real estate and the various physical objects required creating different sounds, aromas, colours and lighting. Online constraints tend to be related to the screen resolution and the hardware that exists at the consumer end of the channel. The hedonic factors in designing the web-site interface can be enhanced with symbolic, nonverbal elements, which can be created by images, colours, fonts and videos and music.

Zeithaml (2002) has defined that;

The success of e-tailing depends on the efficient web site design, effective shopping and prompt delivery. The other e-store services are delivery on real time, return and replacement process, period of filling out online orders form, speed of response time to e-customers queries. Kim and Lee (2002) have suggested that the design of e-store influences consumers access to e-store. In the e-store, website design, design of product and service comparison and information, time to complete online order form, easy of searching product and service, screen layout, screen complexity, page composition, information retrieval methods,

information display, use of colour and background, assistance to the user and speed of accessing the e-store are notable factors attracting ecustomers.

RESEARCH METHOLODGY
The first step in the research process was to determine the issues that need to be addressed for the purpose of the study. Initial talks & discussion were held with manager of the Company in consultation with the guide.

Review of various data & literature available regarding all issues connected with the research was extensively undertaken. Books from various libraries were perused & the relevant ones were studied in detail. Various journals, magazines & research papers were referred too. Several web sites were browsed and relevant data was accumulated. The descriptive survey helped in preparing the ground work for the next step i.e. The field survey.

Historical survey: The geographical area chosen for the survey was Mumbai & Navi Mumbai city for the purpose of convenience. An extensive survey of various distributors in Mumbai was undertaken & people from the industry were consulted.

Research instruments: In consultation with the guide it was decided to adapt an in-dept. structure interview (open-ended) as a method of data collection to obtain qualitative data. As pointers for the research an interview schedule was prepared for the purpose of conducting structured in depth interviews of the distributors.

Data collection: both primary & secondary data were collected for the research. The secondary data had already been collected in the previous stage. Some of the primary data was collected during the interview of production manager of the company, distributors & customers. Appointments of the manager of the plant were taken over the phone. Most of the primary data was collected by conducting in-depth interviews of distributors. The researcher met the respondent face- to- face earlier. The interview was conducted as per the interview schedule in English language as well as in the local language. The gist of the discussion is appended as annexure. Prior permission was taken of the interviewee to append the gist of the discussion; typed copies are appended at the end.

Data analysis stage: data collected through primary & secondary sources was tabulated and summarized so as to draw logical conclusions

Presentation of findings conclusions & recommendations: the finding, conclusion & recommendations have been discussed later in this paper.

LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT
Logistics and Supply Chain Management have always been an integral part of any business, although they have mainly remained in the background. But today, both Logistics and Supply Chain Management are beginning to gain momentum. Indian businesses are fast getting competitive and the only way one can stay ahead is to be quick, efficient, and flexible. The best way to achieve this is to have an efficient logistics system in place. This holds more importance as every industry is realising that not only can substantial savings be gained from this area, but also a good logistics system can push the business to the top slot. Definition: Very simply put, Logistics Management is a bridge between Demand and Supply. That is it conveys the demand to the Supply point and reaches the supply to the Demand point.

Logistics can be defined as:

'Logistics is the process of strategically managing the procurement, movement and storage of materials, parts and finished inventory (and related information flows) through the organization and its marketing channels in such a way that current and future profitability are maximized through the cost effective fulfilment of orders.'

Logistics Management provides a major source of competitive advantage - in other words a position of enduring superiority over competitors in terms of customer preference may be achieved through Logistics.

Logistics:
The science of planning and carrying out the movement and maintenance of forces. In its most comprehensive sense, the aspects of military operations which deal with:

a) Design and development, acquisition, storage, transport, distribution, maintenance, evacuation and disposition of materiel b) Transport of personnel; c) Acquisition or construction, maintenance, operation and disposition of facilities; d) Acquisition or furnishing of services; and e) Medical and health service support.

"Logistics is...
Strategically managing the procurement and movement of goods and storage of inventory in all forms."

The process of strategically managing the procurement, movement and storage of materials, parts and finished inventory (and the related information flows) through the organization and its marketing channels in such a way that current and future profitability are maximized through the cost-effective fulfilment of orders".

These definitions give the idea of the wide range of functions that logistics covers. A simple definition is: "Logistics is the delivery of the required goods, at required place, at required time, in required state and to the required person efficiently." Logistics is "the process of planning implementing and controlling the efficient, effective flow and storage of raw materials, in-process inventory, finished goods, services and related information right from the point of origin to the point of consumption (including inbound, out bound, internal and external movements) in order to satisfy customer's requirements.

LOGISTICS is also defined as time related positioning of resources. The whole concept of Logistics is based on 7 R's which are: Right place Right time Right quantity Right quality Right price Right condition Right customer

Logistics is about moving materials, information and funds from one business to another or from a business to the consumer. It is a vital part of the business economic system and is a major global economic activity. In fact 10-15 per cent of product costs are logistics related. Worldwide, logistics constitutes about $2 trillion a year. For any country, the logistics cost is estimated between 9 and 20 per cent of its GDP.

If one considers that logistics comprises both the building up of stocks and capabilities and the containment of weapons and forces, then it is clear that a distinction can be made between two important aspects of logistics: the first one dealing with production and the second one with consumption.

The following definitions of these aspects enjoy widespread acceptance: -

Production Logistics (also known as: acquisition logistics that part of logistics concerning research, design, development, manufacture and acceptance of materiel. In consequence, production logistics includes: standardization and interoperability, contracting, quality assurance, procurement of spares, reliability and defence analysis, safety standards for equipment, specifications and production processes, trials and testing (including provision of necessary facilities), codification, equipment documentation, configuration control and modifications.

Consumer Logistics (also known as: operational logistics) that part of logistics concerning reception of the initial product, storage, transport, maintenance (including repair and serviceability), operation and disposal of materiel. In consequence, consumer logistics includes stock control, provision or construction of facilities (excluding any material element and those facilities needed to support production logistic facilities), movement control, reliability and defect reporting, safety standards for storage, transport and handling and related training.

What Can Logistics do for A Company?

Logistics includes all the processes required to go from raw materials to end customer delivery, including purchasing, inventory management, warehousing, shipping and even customer returns. All product-oriented businesses have logistics as a cost of doing business. Some may think it only applies to large businesses, but companies of any size can benefit from logistics improvements.

Purchasing and Procurement: Purchasing is a key function in

optimizing overall Logistics and Supply Chain Management operations; here we provide a listing of relevant resources in the purchasing field.

Inventory management: A significant cost to most organizations is

the inventory it carries to support customers and sales. Effectively managing and minimizing this inventory investment can provide competitive advantage to your firm in the marketplace. Review these inventory management links to learn more.

Warehouse Management: A warehouse Management system is a

Critical component of an effective overall supply chain management systems solution. Warehouse management is now, or will soon be, a must-have for your logistics operations to remain competitive. We offer warehouse management resources, information and a listing of organizations that support warehouse management professionals. The good news is that any improvement in logistics you make results in savings in your cost of doing business. Best of all, these savings drop right to your bottom line as profits.

IMPORTANCE
Logistics is the one important function in business today. No marketing, manufacturing or project execution can succeed without logistics support. For companies, 10 per cent to 35 per cent of gross sales are logistics cost, depending on business, geography and weight/value ratio. Logistics is comparatively a new term, but not the operation. Logistics has existed since the beginning of civilization. Raw material and finished products had always to be moved, though on a small scale. Things began changing with the advance in transportation. Population began moving from rural to urban areas and to business centers. No longer did people live near production centers, nor did production take place near residence centers. The geographical distance between the production point and consumption point increased and logistics gained importance. Another factor has come into play recently. Since the early 1990's, the business scene has changed. The globalization, the free market and the competition has required that the customer gets the right material, at the right time, at the right point and in the right condition...... at the lowest cost.

LOGISTIC FUNCTION
It is important to recognize that the various logistic functions come together to form the totality of logistics support. For example, logistic planning originates in national or MNC policy guidance and has to be coordinated with all the staff branches concerned, whether they are operational, administrative or logistic, military or civil. A brief examination of the main functions of logistics shows this clearly.

1. Materiel Function of Logistics

Production or acquisition logistics covers materiel, from the first phase of the life cycle to its final disposal from the inventory. The first part of the cycle, from specification, design and production is clearly a function of production logistics. Reception of the equipment into service, its distribution and storage, repair, maintenance and disposal are clearly a consumer logistic task. However, the initial design of the equipment which is part of production logistics has to take account of the consumer aspects of repair and maintenance, and therefore involves both disciplines.

2. Supply Function of Logistics

Supply covers all materiel and items used in the equipment, support and maintenance of military forces. The supply function includes the determination replenishment. of stock levels, provisioning, distribution and

3. Service Function of Logistics

The provision of manpower and skills in support of combat troops or logistic activities includes a wide range of services such as combat resupply, map distribution, labour resources, postal and courier services, canteen, laundry and bathing facilities, burials, etc. These services may be provided either to one's own national forces or to those of another nation and their effectiveness depends on close cooperation between operational, logistic and civil planning staffs.

4. Engineering Function of Logistics

The area of logistic engineering, while not exclusively a logistic function will require close coordination with logistics as the mission is very closely aligned with logistics in terms of facilitating the logistic mission of opening lines of communication and constructing support facilities. The engineering mission bridges the gap from logistics to operations and is closely related to the ultimate success of both.

5. Medical Function of Logistics

This function entails the provision of an efficient medical support system to treat and evacuate sick, injured and wounded personnel, minimize man days lost due to injury and illness, and return casualties to duty. An effective medical support system is thus considered a potential force multiplier. Though medical support is normally a national responsibility, planning must be flexible and consider coordinated multinational approaches to medical support.

ADVANTAGES
Competitive Advantage
The source of competitive advantage is found firstly in the ability of the organization to differentiate itself in the eyes of the customer, from its competition and secondly at a lower cost and hence at a greater profit. That is successful companies either have a productivity advantage or a value advantage or a combination of the two.

Productivity Advantage
Productivity Advantage gives a lower cost profile. Traditionally it has been suggested that the main route to cost reduction was by gaining greater sales volume and there can be no doubt about the close linkage between relative market share and relative costs. However it must also be recognized that Logistics Managers can provide multitude of ways to increase efficiency and productivity and hence contribute significantly to reduced unit costs.

Value Advantage
It has been an axiom in Marketing that 'Customers don't buy products they buy benefits'. Put another way, the product is purchased not for itself but for the promise of what it will deliver. Unless the product or the service that we offer is distinguished from its competitor in some way, there is a strong likelihood that the market will view it as a 'commodity' and so the sale will tend to go to the cheapest supplier. Hence the importance of adding value to our offerings to mark it out from the competition. An extremely powerful means of adding value is service. Increasingly we are finding that markets are becoming more service sensitive.

This simply means that it is becoming progressively difficult to compete purely on the basis of brand or corporate image. A number of companies have responded to this by focusing on service as a means of gaining a competitive edge. Service in this context relates to the process of developing relations with customers through the provision of an augmented offer. This augmentation can take many forms including delivery service, after sales service, financial packages, technical support and so forth.

Fig.1 Logistics and Competitive Advantage

In practice what we find is that the successful companies will often seek to achieve a position based upon both a productivity advantage and a value advantage; a useful way of examining the available options is to present them as a simple matrix

Let us consider these options in turn: - For companies who find themselves in the bottom left hand corner of our matrix the world is an uncomfortable place. Their products are indistinguishable from their competitors' offerings and they have no cost advantage. These are typical commodity market situations and ultimately the only strategy is either to move to the right on the matrix i.e. to cost leadership, or upwards into a 'niche'. Often the cost leadership route is simply not available. This particularly will be the case in a mature market where substantial market share gains are difficult to achieve. Cost Leadership, if it is to form a basis of a viable long term marketing strategy, should essentially be gained early in the market life cycle. This is why market share is considered to be so important in many industries. The other way out of the 'commodity' quadrant of our matrix is seek a 'niche' or segment where it is possible to meet the needs of the customers through offering additional values. This value addition is mostly through service. There is unfortunately no middle ground between cost leadership and niche marketing. Being caught in between is quite a bad news. Finally, perhaps the most defensible position in the matrix is the top right hand corner. Companies who occupy that position have products that are distinctive in the values they offer and are also cost competitive. For example, for years marketing and manufacturing have been seen as largely separate activities within the organization. At best they have coexisted at worst there has been open warfare. Manufacturing priorities and objectives have typically been focused on operating efficiency, achieved through long production runs, minimized setups and change

over and product standardization. On the other hand marketing has sought to achieve competitive advantage through high service levels and frequent product changes.

LOGISTICS ACTIVITIES
In our definition, logistics is comprised of five interdependent activities: customer response, inventory planning and management, supply, transportation, and warehousing.

a) Customer Response
Customer response links logistics externally to the customer base and internally to sales and marketing. Customer response is optimized when the customer service policy (CSP) yielding the lowest cost of lost sales, inventory carrying, and distribution is identified and executed.

b) Inventory Planning and Management

The objective of inventory planning and management (IP&M) is to determine and maintain the lowest inventory levels possible that will meet the customer service policy requirements stipulated in the customer service policy. The logistics of inventory planning and management includes Forecasting Order quantity engineering Service level optimization Replenishment planning Inventory deployment

c) Supply
Supply is the process of building inventory (through manufacturing and/or procurement) to the targets established in inventory planning. The objective of supply management is to minimize the total acquisition cost (TAC) while meeting the availability, response time, and quality requirements stipulated in the customer service policy and the inventory master plan. The logistics of supply include Developing and maintaining a Supplier Service Policy (SSP) Sourcing Supplier integration Purchase order processing Buying and payment

d) Transportation
Transportation physically links the sources of supply chosen in sourcing with the customers we have decided to serve chosen as a part of the customer service policy. We reserve transportation for the fourth spot in the logistics activity list because the deliver-to points and response time requirements determined in the customer service policy and the pick-up points determined in the supply plan must be in place before a transportation scheme can be developed. The objective of transportation is to link all pickup and deliver-to points within the response time requirements of the customer service policy and the limitations of the transportation infrastructure at the lowest possible cost.

The logistics of transportation includes Network design and optimization Shipment management Fleet and container management Carrier management Freight management

E) Warehousing
Warehousing as the last of the five logistics activities because good planning in the other four activities may eliminate the need for warehousing or may suggest the warehousing activity be outsourced. In addition, a good warehouse plan incorporates the needs of all the other logistics activities. Good or bad, the warehouse ultimately portrays the efficiency or inefficiency of the entire supply chain. The objective of warehousing is to minimize the cost of labor, space, and equipment in the warehouse while meeting the cycle time and shipping accuracy requirements of the customer service policy and the storage capacity requirements of the inventory play. warehousing includes Receiving Put away Storage Order picking Shipping The logistics of

THE EVOLUTION OF LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Paralleling advances in management theory and information systems, logistics has evolved in scope and influence in the private sector since the mid to late 1940s. In the 1950s and 60s, the military was the only organization using the term logistics. There was no true concept of logistics in private industry at that time. Instead, departmental silos including material handling, warehousing, machining, accounting, marketing, and so on, were the norm. The five phases of logistics developmentworkplace logistics, facility logistics, corporate logistics, supply chain logistics, and global logistics

Fig2. The evolution of logistics.

Workplace Logistics
Workplace logistics is the flow of material at a single workstation. The objective of workplace logistics is to streamline the movements of an individual working at a machine or along an assembly line. The principles and theory of workplace logistics were developed by the founders of industrial engineering working in WWII and post-WWII factory operations. A popular name today for workplace logistics is ergonomics.

Facility Logistics

Facility logistics is the flow of material between workstations within the four walls of a facility (that is, interwork station and intrafacility).The facility could be a factory, terminal, warehouse, or distribution center. Facility logistics has been more commonly referred to as material handling. The roots of facility logistics and material handling are in the mass production and assembly lines that distinguished the 1950s and 1960s. In those times and even into the late 1970s, many organizations maintained material-handling departments. Today, the term material handling has fallen out of favour because of its association with no value added activities.

Corporate Logistics

As

management

structures

advanced

and

information

systems

accordingly, our ability to assimilate and synthesize departments (material handling, warehousing, and so on) into functions (physical distribution and business logistics) in the 1970s permitted the first application of true logistics within a corporation. Corporate logistics became a process with the common objective to develop and maintain a profitable customer service policy while maintaining and reducing total logistics costs.

Supply Chain Logistics

Supply chain logistics is the flow of material, information, and money between corporations (interwork station, interfacility, intercorporate, and intrachain). There is a lot of confusion surrounding the terms logistics and supply chain management. I distinguish the two by explaining that the supply chain is the network of facilities (warehouses, factories, terminals, ports, stores, and homes), vehicles (trucks, trains, planes, and ocean vessels), and logistics information systems (LIS) connected by an enterprises suppliers suppliers and its customers customers. Logistics is what happens in the supply chain. Logistics activities (customer response, inventory management, supply, transportation, and warehousing) connect and activate the objects in the supply chain. To borrow a sports analogy, logistics is the game played in the supply chain arena.

Global Logistics

Global logistics is the flow of material, information, and money between countries. Global logistics connects our suppliers suppliers with our customers customers internationally. Global logistics flows have increased dramatically during the last several years due to globalization in the world economy, expanding use of trading blocs, and global access to Web sites for buying and selling merchandise. Global logistics is much more complex than domestic logistics, due to the multiplicity of handoffs, players, LAN-gauges, documents, currencies, time zones, and cultures that are inherent to international business.

Next-Generation Logistics
There are many theories as to the next phase of logistics development. Many logisticians believe that collaborative logistics, logistics models built with continuous and real-time optimization and communication between all supply chain partners will be the next phase of evolution. Other camps in the logistics community believe the next phase of evolution will be virtual logistics or fourth-party logistics, where all logistics activities and management will be outsourced to third-party logistics providers who are in turn managed by a master or fourth-party logistics providers acting kind of like a general contractor. I used to joke that interplanetary logistics would be the next phase of evolution until the director of logistics for NASA and the international space station program showed up in our Logistics Management Series and began asking my advice on how to get parts to Mars to support their next mission.

LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT PROCESS

Fig3. Logistics Management Process

Logistics Management Process.

The above figure illustrates the total systems concept. Logistics Management, from this total systems view point, is the means whereby the needs of the customer are satisfied through the coordination of materials and information flow that extend from the market place, through the firm and its operation and beyond that to the suppliers. To achieve this company wide integration clearly

LOGISTICS: INBOUND AND OUTBOUND

This is the most intricate part of the system of SCM. If goods dont reach in time and they are of inferior quality you as an entrepreneur earn a bad name too. So why give the consumer a chance? Plan it in a way that you ensure both quality and quantity in a reasonable time frame. Take for example 7 days truckers strike in 2004. It was bad for economy of the country and above all worse for those manufacturers who couldnt deliver goods on time. A strike or a bandh as we call it in India is a happy situation for the fleet owners but a bad time for the drivers, mill owners, small timers, laborer, suppliers, manufacturers and the consumers. That is the reason contingency planning plays a predominant role in shaping our SCM system. How, let us see.

Suppliers to Manufacturers
The most complicated, yet, the most important phase in any production are the movement of raw materials from the supply point by the suppliers to the manufacturing unit. Identification of the right type of suppliers is therefore the key to effective SCM system. Can you envisage the various agencies and steps that are involved in this total system? Let us see them one by one. What is the raw material that has to be moved? What is the cheapest and the best available with the suppliers? Where is it available? What are the credentials of the supplier? What is the mode of transport being utilized for the move? Is it cost effective?

 What is the time factor involved in the movement? Does weather and climate play a predominant role in moving the raw material? What are the terrain conditions in the areas from where it has to be moved? What is the distance involved? Is it of acceptable quality?

All these have to be addressed before one plan for movement of these raw materials, that too in great detail. That is whatis an effective SCM system to be followed by every firm.

Manufacturers to Consumers
Let us now visualize the various stages involved in moving the finished products from the manufacturing units to the consumers. They are: Packaging of goods. Stocking them in warehouses/containerization. Loading into carriers/transportation. Delivery to the nearest wholesalers. Wholesalers to retailers. Retailers to market places/stores. To consumers.

These 7 steps are like any of those 7 days. Its difficult to skip one to save on another. Yes, there are direct marketing that the companies are following these days, but they are numbered. But the basic stages of these companies too move through pre-designated franchises and not directly. Hence, the time taken or cost per se generally remains the same. Problems envisaged in movement of products from manufacturing units to consumers are many and can be listed as under: Perishable products. Losses in transit. Accidents and calamities. Unavoidable delays in terms of strikes and bandh. Labour unrest. Rats and rodents. Breakages during handling. General costing since at times even double handling is involved.

GLOBAL TRENDS
In 2010, the United Kingdom had the biggest e-commerce market in the world when measured by the amount spent per capita. The Czech Republic is the European country where ecommerce delivers the biggest contribution to the enterprises total revenue. Almost a quarter (24%) of the countrys total turnover is generated via the online channel. Among emerging economies, China's e-commerce presence continues to expand. With 384 million internet users, China's online shopping sales rose to $36.6 billion in 2009 and one of the reasons behind the huge growth has been the improved trust level for shoppers. The Chinese retailers have been able to help consumers feel more comfortable shopping online.China's cross-border e-commerce is also growing rapidly. E-commerce transactions between China and other countries increased 32% to 2.3 trillion yuan ($375.8 billion) in 2012 and accounted for 9.6% of China's total international trade. Other BRIC countries are witnessing the accelerated growth of ecommerce as well. In Russia, the total ecommerce market is projected to total somewhere between 690 billion rubles ($23 billion) and 900 billion rubles ($30 billion) in 2015, at 2010 values. This will equal 5% of total retail volume in Russia. Longer-term, the market size of Russian ecommerce could reach $50 billion by 2020. Ecommerce players need to understand unique insights about trust factor, online payments and language peculiarities to penetrate the Russian market. Brazil's ecommerce is growing quickly with retail ecommerce sales expected to grow at a healthy double-digit pace through 2014. By 2016, E-Marketer expects retail ecommerce sales in Brazil to reach $17.3 billion.

India's ecommerce growth, on the other hand, has been slower although the country's potential remains solid considering its surging economy, the rapid growth of internet penetration, English language proficiency and a vast market of 1.2 billion consumers (although perhaps only 50 million access the internet through PCs and some estimate the most active group of e-commerce customers numbers only 2-3 million). E-commerce traffic grew about 50% from 2011 to 2012, from 26.1 million to 37.5 million, according to a report released by Com Score. Still much of the estimated 14 billion dollars in 2012 ecommerce was generated from travel sites.

E-commerce is also expanding across the Middle East. Having recorded the world's fastest growth in internet usage between 2000 and 2009, the region is now home to more than 60 million internet users. Retail, travel and gaming are the region's top ecommerce segments, in spite of difficulties such as the lack of region-wide legal frameworks and logistical problems in cross-border transportation. E-Commerce has

become an important tool for small and large businesses worldwide, not only to sell to customers, but also to engage them. In 2012, ecommerce sales topped $1 trillion for the first time in history.

GLOBA MARKET SHARE OF E-COMMERCE

E-commerce B2C product sales total $142.5 billion, representing about 8% of retail product sales in the United States. The $26 billion worth of clothes sold online represented about 13% of the domestic market, and with 72% of women looking online for apparel, it has become one of the most popular cross-shopping categories. Forrester Research estimates that the United States online retail industry will be worth $279 billion in 2015. There were 242 million people shopping on-line in China in 2012. For developing countries and low-income households in developed countries, adoption of e-commerce in place of or in addition to conventional methods is limited by a lack of affordable Internet access.

BROAD DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL RETAILING AND E-TAILING

In India, at present, most retailing occurs through physical stores, with existing operators. The importance of location has been stressed in traditional retailing. The physical location of a store is seen as a source of competitive advantage as it attracts the customer attraction. Similarly, the new version of web based retailing is growing all over the world. They provide virtual shopping space to the customers. With the help of the power of information technology through large and accurate data warehouses, both traditional retailers and e-tailers have been able to reduce and manage inventory and respond accurately to customer demand. The most prominent difference between traditional retailing and e-tailing is the replacement of human-to-human interaction with human-tomachine interaction. While store layout is one of the decisive factors in traditional retailing , screen depth, browse and search functions, indices, image maps and e-store design quality are an integral part of e-tailing. Moreover, many buying functions seem personal and have no correspondence in the e-store, which should drive us to conclude that ecustomer satisfaction is one of the major concepts in e-tailing industry in this Internet Age. In traditional retail environment, retailers can use the aesthetic design to create a desired possible design aspect that would help generate a favourable store atmosphere. On the case of e-tailing, the e-tailers use the visual aesthetics.

To get these things, they use and designs better websites. The websites are considered most important because lack of aesthetics sense in the websites consumers may switch to another store. Secondly, manipulating websites is relatively easier, cheaper and can be done more flexibly. In the traditional retailing system both the retailer and manufacturer control over the presentation of the product. The manufacturer controls the packaging, but the retailer executes the visual merchandising and signage that provide the context for the package. On the e-tailing system, the e-tailer controls the product representation as the product is not physically present in front of the customer. Instead, the e-tailer decides how to represent the presence of the product as part of the information mix for the site: images, text and hyperlinks among other elements. The e-tailer totally depends by the distribution of screen and window size and screen resolution in the target. The table 1 depicts the differences between the traditional retailing and online retail.

TABLE 1: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL RETAIL AND E-TAIL

Traditional retailing Location Presence and

E-tail

Location is the web address, Physical branded goods available globally through internet easily identified and connection. found. Most traditional and oldest location for Can establish a presence through retail. cross promotions (links between sites) Commands attention In the retail landscape.

Merchandisi Use of store space and proper assortment. ng Signage other product information tools.

Web page layout Relationship between product and text Signage and information tools Category search mechanism other and product sorting

Interactive product locations Promotional Activity Pricing strategies and Pricing strategies and campaigns campaigns can be can be implemented instantaneously implemented on a daily depending on internal organizational constraints basis

Inventory

Product must be Multiple inventory ownership available at multiple store options, with most prominent being Management locations to maximize traditional, just-in-time and a purchasing opportunities hybrid of two.

Overall, the trend for online shopping is very positive. The reasons for this optimism, according to dot-com players, are an increased availability in online payment options, a wider range of merchandise, online tracking of shipments, 24-hour, seven-day-a-week customer care, and a larger Internet reach at cheaper costs. Today, the customer has a choice of payment modes: credit cards, cash on delivery, Internet banking accounts, demand drafts and cash on order. Table 2 provides the comparative analyses of traditional retailing and e-tailing.

TABLE 2: TRADITIONAL RETAILING VS. E-TAILING

Strength Traditional retailers Established brand value/image Established quality Merchandising skills Consumer proposition acceptance of current Weaknesses Lack of execution speed Lack of technology and its competence High advertising costs

Can touch and feel products E-trailers Low overhead IT infrastructure Execution speed Low advertising costs Concerns over security Lack of trust and dependency among the users Users are less due to high technology

INDIAN TRENDS
E-TAILING IN INDIA: ITS ISSUES, OPPORTUNITIES AND EFFECTIVESTRATEGIES FOR GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

ABSTRACT:

The Indian Online Retail is a rich segment waiting to be exploited. Internet is a potent medium that can serve as a unique platform for the growth of retail brands in India. The medium holds many virtues favourable for the retail industry including a higher customer penetration, increased visibility, and convenient operations. The current web-based models for e-tailing are part of an embryonic phase preceding an era of rapid transformation, challenge, and opportunity in Indian retail market. The Indian retail market is witnessing a revolution. The growth of internet has enabled the new retail format of the virtual retailer to emerge and forced the existing retailers to consider e-tailing model of retailing as well. Online retailing or e-tailing is described as transactions that are conducted through interactive online computer systems, which link consumers with sellers electronically, where the buyer and merchant are not at the same physical location. In a short space of time, internet retailing or e-tailing has firmly established itself as a viable alternative to store based shopping. This paper attempts to provide a clear picture about the e-tailing in India and its various issues, opportunities. It also attempts to draw an effective e-tailing strategy in India based on the detailed survey of e-tailing companies.

INTRODUCTION: With rapid growth of the Internet and globalization of market, the retail sector has become an increasingly competitive and dynamic business environment. Business and marketing activities are affected by the invent of Internet technologies and the Internet is revolutionizing commerce, marketing, retailing, shopping and advertising activities of products and services. There are several attractive attributes of Internet to not only e-customers but also companies on time and money saving, communicate, convenience, easy accessibility, selection from a wide range of alternatives, and the availability of information for making decisions and all marketing activities can be performed via the Internet efficiently. In the era of globalization, companies are using the Internet technologies to reach out to valued customers and to provide a point of contact 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. E-commerce and e-marketing are the two important terms in the new Internet-based business domain. E-commerce can be defined as a way of conducting business by companies and customers performing electronic transactions through the Internet. E-marketing, (Also known as Internet Marketing, Web Marketing, and Online Marketing etc.) Can be defined as the promotion of products or services through the Internet whereas; e-tailing can be defined as selling products and services by using the Internet. Wang (2002) has provided a broad definition of e-tailing by defining it as the selling of goods and services to the consumer market via the internet. According to Turban et al. e-tailing is defined as retailing conducted online, over the internet.

In general, the activities of e-tailing encompass three main activities. They are: (i) a product search facility (often referred as a product evaluation or information gathering facility), (ii) an on-line purchase function and (iii) a product delivery capability. Like general marketing activities of an organization, e-tailers have also stick to the same 4Ps of marketing activities. They are: Product, Price, Promotion and Place. With regard to the right products, e-stores can offer a larger spectrum of product offering like traditional retailers in categories ranging from electronics to shoes. E-store is the Internet version of stores that set up electronic storefronts on the Internet. It provides all kinds of products and renders service to the e-customer at the click of a mouse button and makes money by selling products directly to e-customers. When it comes to the right price, e-stores can be operated with low profit margin because of the lower cost and higher sales volume. As for the right promotion, e-stores have unlimited direct marketing, advertising and selling opportunities. Finally, with regard to the right place; the location of e-stores is not important in the Internet and ecustomer can connect and purchase products and services from the Internet at any time and place, e-store is defined as a commercial web site on which e-customers can shop and make purchases. E-commerce offers increased market activity for retailers in the form of growing market access and information and decreased operating and procurement costs. The consumers can gain better prices due to the competition and also can enrich their knowledge on goods and services. According to a survey conducted by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB), the ecommerce market in India has garnered Rs. 9210 crore in 2007-08, whereas e-tailing market was only about Rs. 1150 crore).

In general, e-tailing industry, from a business perspective offers an opportunity to cater to consumers across geographies, no operational timings, unlimited shelf space and all this with miniscule quantity of infrastructure. For a country like India, the growth in the e-tailing market is driven by the need to save time by urban India. Besides with over 2.5 billion internet users, access to internet has also played an important role in growing the markets. Consumers decisionmaking process has considerably changed with the introduction of the Internet as an alternative channel for shopping. The new wave of consumerism coupled with increasing urbanization and burgeoning middle class with paradigm shifts in their demographic and psychographic dynamics have driven consumers frequently to use retail websites to search for product information and/or make a purchase of products. In India, the shift from physical stores to e-store takes place due to the in-adequacy of time of consumers and the relatively high disposable incomes as well as due to a high need for labour saving goods and The electronic retail growth of Indian market as estimated by Euromonitor report has already touched Rs. 2700 crores in the year 2010 from Rs. 400 crores in 2005. Again on the recent report of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the Indian e-commerce market will gallop at an impressive growth rate of 47 per cent to over Rs 46,000 crore in the year 2011. Comprising about 81 per cent of the total e-commerce in the country, the online travel market, which includes booking rail and air tickets, hotel accommodations and tour packages, is estimated to grow by 50 per cent and touch Rs 37,890 crore by December, 2011. E-tailing sector in India is expected to grow by 34 per cent and touch Rs 2,650 crore in the year 2011.

Bullish on the growth prospects of the online market, the Indian retail market has observed that online spending has been skewed toward certain products in e-tailing. E-tailing, which includes purchases of durable products such as electronic items, home and kitchen appliances, as well as personal items like apparels and jewellery, constitutes 8 per cent of the overall e-commerce market in India. The top E-tailers in India are indiatimes.com, fabmart.com, rediffshopping.com. They have managed to retain their lead due to innovative business strategies, supply chain model and changing urban lifestyles.

India has an internet user base of about 137 million as of June 2012.The penetration of e-commerce is low compared to markets like the United States and the United Kingdom but is growingat a much faster rate with a large number of new entrants. The industry consensus is that growth is at an inflection point. Unique to India (and potentially to other developing countries), cash on delivery is a preferred payment method. India has a vibrant cash economy as a result of which 80% of Indian e-commerce tends to be Cash on Delivery. Similarly, direct imports constitute a large component of online sales. Demand for international consumer products (including longtail items) is growing much faster than in-country supply from authorised distributors and e-commerce offerings.

MARKET SIZE AND GROWTH

India's e-commerce market was worth about $2.5 billion in 2009, it went up to $6.3 billion in 2011 and to $14 billion in 2012. About 75% of this is travel related (airline tickets, railway tickets, hotel bookings, online mobile recharge etc.). Online Retailing comprises about 12.5% ($300 Million as of 2009). India has close to 10 million online shoppers and is growing at an estimated 30% CAGR vis--vis a global growth rate of 8 10%. Electronics and Apparel are the biggest categories in terms of sales. Key drivers in Indian e-commerce are: Increasing broadband Internet (growing at 20%)

and 3G penetration. Rising standards of living and a burgeoning, upwardly mobile

middle class with high disposable incomes. Availability of much wider product range (including long

tail and Direct Imports) compared to what is available at brick and mortar retailers. Busy lifestyles, urban traffic congestion and lack of time for offline

shopping. Lower prices compared to brick and mortar retail driven

by disintermediation and reduced inventory and real estate costs. Increased usage of online classified sites, with more consumer

buying and selling second-hand goods. Evolution of the online marketplace model with sites like eBay,

Flipkart, Snapdeal, Infibeam, qnetindia.in and Tradus. The evolution of ecommerce has come a full circle with marketplace models taking centre stage again.

India's retail market is estimated at $470 billion in 2011 and is expected to grow to $675 Bn by 2016 and $850 Bn by 2020, estimated CAGR of 7%. According to Forrester, the e-commerce market in India is set to grow the fastest within the Asia-Pacific Region at a CAGR of over 57% between 201216. As per "India Goes Digital", a report by Avendus Capital, a leading Indian Investment Bank specializing in digital media and technology sector, the Indian e-commerce market is estimated at Rs 28,500 Crore ($6.3 billion) for the year 2011. Online travel constitutes a sizable portion (87%) of this market today. Online travel market in India is expected to grow at a rate of 22% over the next 4 years and reach Rs 54,800 Crore ($12.2 billion) in size by 2015. Indian e-tailing industry is estimated at Rs 3,600 crore (US$800 mn) in 2011 and estimated to grow to Rs 53,000 Crore ($11.8 billion) in 2015. Overall e-commerce market is expected to reach Rs 1, 07,800 crores (US$ 24 billion) by the year 2015 with both online travel and e-tailing contributing equally. Another big segment in e-commerce is mobile/DTH recharge with nearly 1 million transactions daily by operator websites

Infrastructure
Many open source ecommerce software and platforms are growing in prominence including Magento. There are many hosting companies working in India but most] of them are not suitable for E-Commerce hosting purpose, because they are providing much less secure and threat protected shared hosting. E-Commerce demand highly secure, stable and protected hosting. Trends are changing with some of ecommerce companies starting to offer SaaS for hosing web stores with minimal onetime costs. There could be various methods of ecommerce marketing such as blog, forums, search engines and some online advertising sites like Google adwords and Adroll. India got its own version of the so-called Cyber Monday known as Great Online Shopping Festival in with December 2012, when Google companies

India partnered

e-commerce

including Flipkart,HomeShop18, Snapdeal, Indiatimes shopping and Makemytrip. "Cyber Monday" is a term coined in the USA for the Monday coming after Black Friday, which is the Friday after Thanksgiving Day. In early June 2013, Amazon.com launched their Amazon India marketplace without any marketing campaigns.

ADVANTAGES OF E-COMMERCE
Convenience
Online stores are usually available 24 hours a day, and many consumers have Internet access both at work and at home. Other establishments such as internet cafes and schools provide internet access as well. In contrast, visiting a conventional retail store requires travel and must take place during business hours. In the event of a problem with the item (e.g., the product was not what the consumer ordered, the product was not satisfactory), consumers are concerned with the ease of returning an item in exchange for either the correct product or a refund. Consumers may need to contact the retailer, visit the post office and pay return shipping, and then wait for a replacement or refund. Some online companies have more generous return policies to compensate for the traditional advantage of physical stores. For example, the online shoe retailer Zappos.com includes labels for free return shipping, and does not charge a restocking fee, even for returns which are not the result of merchant error. (Note: In the United Kingdom, online shops are prohibited from charging a restocking fee if the consumer cancels their order in accordance with the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Act 2000.

Information and reviews

Online stores must describe products for sale with text, photos, and multimedia files, whereas in a physical retail store, the actual product and the manufacturer's packaging will be available for direct inspection (which might involve a test drive, fitting, or other experimentation). Some online stores provide or link to supplemental product information, such as instructions, safety procedures, demonstrations, or manufacturer specifications. Some provide background information, advice, or how-to guides designed to help consumers decide which product to buy. Some stores even allow customers to comment or rate their items. There are also dedicated review sites that host user reviews for different products. Reviews and even some blogs give customers the option of shopping for cheaper purchases from all over the world without having to depend on local retailers. In a conventional retail store, clerks are generally available to answer questions. Some online stores have real-time chat features, but most rely on e-mails or phone calls to handle customer questions. Price and selection One advantage of shopping online is being able to quickly seek out deals for items or services provided by many different vendors (though some local search engines do exist to help consumers locate products for sale in nearby stores). Search engines, online price comparison services and discovery shopping engines can be used to look up sellers of a particular product or service.

DISADVANTAGES OF E-COMMERCE
Fraud and security concerns
Given the lack of ability to inspect merchandise before purchase, consumers are at higher risk of fraud than face-to-face transactions. Merchants also risk fraudulent purchases using stolen credit cards or fraudulent repudiation of the online purchase. However, merchants face less risk from physical theft by using a warehouse instead of a retail storefront. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption has generally solved the problem of credit card numbers being intercepted in transit between the consumer and the merchant. However, one must still trust the merchant (and employees) not to use the credit card information subsequently for their own purchases, and not to pass the information to others. Also, hackers might break into a merchant's web site and steal names, addresses and credit card numbers, although the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is intended to minimize the impact of such breaches. Identity is still a concern for consumers. A number of high-profile break-ins in the 2000s have prompted some U.S. states to require disclosure to consumers when this happens. Computer security has thus become a major concern for merchants and e-commerce service providers, who deploy countermeasures such as firewalls and anti-virus software to protect their networks. Phishing is another danger, where consumers are fooled into thinking they are dealing with a reputable retailer, when they have actually been manipulated into feeding private information to a system operated by a malicious party. Denial of service attacks are a minor risk for merchants, as are server and network outages.

Quality seals can be placed on the Shop web page if it has undergone an independent assessment and meets all requirements of the company issuing the seal. The purpose of these seals is to increase the confidence of online shoppers. However, the existence of many different seals, or seals unfamiliar to consumers, may foil this effort to a certain extent. A number of resources offer advice on how consumers can protect themselves when using online retailer services. These include: Sticking with known stores, or attempting to find independent consumer reviews of their experiences; also ensuring that there is comprehensive contact information on the website before using the service, and noting if the retailer has enrolled in industry oversight programs such as a trust mark or a trust seal. Before buying from a new company, evaluate the website by considering issues such as: the professionalism and user-friendliness of the site; whether or not the company lists a telephone number and/or street address along with e-contact information; whether a fair and reasonable refund and return policy is clearly stated; and whether there are hidden price inflators, such as excessive shipping and handling charges. Ensuring that the retailer has an acceptable privacy policy posted. For example note if the retailer does not explicitly state that it will not share private information with others without consent. Ensuring that the vendor address is protected with SSL (see above) when entering credit card information. If it does the address on the credit card information entry screen will start with "HTTPS".

Although the benefits of online shopping are considerable, when the process goes poorly it can create a thorny situation. A few problems that shoppers potentially face include identity theft, faulty products, and the accumulation of spyware. Whenever users purchase a product, they are required to put in their credit card information and billing/shipping address. If the website is not secure, customer information can be accessible to anyone who knows how to obtain it. Most large online corporations are inventing new ways to make fraud more difficult. However, criminals are constantly responding to these developments with new ways to manipulate the system. Even though online retailers are making efforts to protect consumer information, it is a constant fight to maintain the lead. It is advisable to be aware of the most current technology and scams protect consumer identity and finances. Product delivery is also a main concern of online shopping. Most companies offer shipping insurance in case the product is lost or damaged. Some shipping companies will offer refunds or compensation for the damage, but this is up to their discretion.

Lack of full cost disclosure

The lack of full cost disclosure may also be problematic. While it may be easy to compare the base price of an item online, it may not be easy to see the total cost up front. Additional fees such as shipping are often not be visible until the final step in the checkout process. The problem is especially evident with cross-border purchases, where the cost indicated at the final checkout screen may not include additional fees that must be paid upon delivery such as duties and brokerage. Some services such as the Canadian based Wishabi attempts to include estimates of this additional cost, but nevertheless, the lack of general full cost disclosure remains a concern.

Privacy
Privacy of personal information is a significant issue for some consumers. Many consumers wish to avoid spam and telemarketing which could result from supplying contact information to an online merchant. In response, many merchants promise to not use consumer information for these purposes, Many websites keep track of consumer shopping habits in order to suggest items and other websites to view. Brick-and-mortar stores also collect consumer information. Some ask for a shopper's address and phone number at checkout, though consumers may refuse to provide it. Many larger stores use the address information encoded on consumers' credit cards (often without their knowledge) to add them to a catalogue mailing list. This information is obviously not accessible to the merchant when paying in cash.

Product suitability
Many successful purely virtual companies deal with digital products, (including information storage, retrieval, and modification), music, movies, office supplies, education, communication, software,

photography, and financial transactions. Other successful marketers use drop shipping or affiliate marketing techniques to facilitate transactions of tangible goods without maintaining real inventory.

Products such as spare parts, both for consumer items like washing machines and for industrial equipment like centrifugal pumps, also seem good candidates for selling online.

ESSENTIAL STRATEGY KEEP IN MIND BY E-COMMERCE

Big Data isnt the Future, its now: Amazon is the most successful e-commerce site on the web. Thats not because of charm, personality, or charisma. Its because of tools and data. Amazon has been playing the big data game for a very long time, and the result has been massive profits. With personalized results and recommended items, people use Amazon just as much for the usefulness of its tools as for the variety of its products. E-commerce start-ups may not have the sheer number of products that Amazon has, and they may not have the resources to implement recommendation systems powered by dozens of servers and machine learning algorithms, but weve already arrived at a point in time where some semblance of big data is available to nearly any start-up. Take Googles Prediction API, for example. For $10 a month, an Ecommerce start-up can make up to 10,000 predictions per month, training a machine learning algorithm on a dataset for $0.002 per megabyte. That amounts to $5 for the maximum-sized dataset: 2.5 gigabytes. True, youre certainly not going to build user-by-user recommendations with those limitations (at least not in a way thats scalable), but its certainly enough to build some optimized recommendations for a heavily segmented audience.

Meanwhile, tools like KISS metrics cost a maximum of $500 per month ($150 at the bargain end), and allow you to track behavioural data for

individual consumers over extended periods of time, giving you insights about their purchasing habits that can be further crunched. Personalization has already proven itself to be a powerful way to boost ROI, and studies are already starting to show us that consumers prefer personalization, despite the privacy concerns that naturally come with it. Meanwhile, free machine learning courses like Courseras are already enough to transform novice programmers with little statistical knowledge into people who can win data science contests. Its not my intention to start a big debate here about the problem of unstructured data, which is still a huge one, or to argue over the semantics of big data. Instead, Im here to argue that if you want to compete in the marketplace as it stands, your marketing strategy will need to be as personalized as possible with the resources available to you.

Online is Moving Offline: When you combine the mobile revolution with things like Amazons plans to build same-day delivery systems (with or without drones), the fact that 70 percent of shoppers research online before shopping in the store, and Shopifys point-of-sale system for their e-commerce platform, you start to get the feeling that online isnt strictly separate from the physical world anymore. In fact, as Warby Parker discovered, a primarily online business can dramatically improve their customer retention and overall sales simply by adding a small proportion of offline sales, even if they only make up 10 percent of the total figure. With 30 percent of online shoppers turning straight to Amazon, and only 13 percent to Google, its easy to see how, in some cases, i t might actually be easier to make an impression offline than online. E-commerce sites that hope to stand out and make a dent in the public consciousness will do themselves a favor by experimenting offline: in particular by doing some guerilla marketing and opening up a few physical stores when the resources are available. We went in-depth on the process of moving offline over at CrazyEgg. Here are a few of the takeaways: Experiment offline with minimum viable stores such as kiosks (or, like Warby Parker, your dining room) before you move into a full-blown store.

Understand How Social Networks Drive Sales: There are essentially only two ways that social networks can make you money: They refer somebody to your site, where a sale is ultimately made They influence brand and product perception, which influence sales That first point is relatively easy to track and measure. While you cant split test your posts (unless you make it a promoted post or use some very convoluted targeting options), you can keep a record of your posts and referrals, analyse them, and arrive at insights about how best to refer visitors to your site. That second one is much more complicated. Its difficult enough to measure that some marketers question whether such an effect even exists. An in-depth study out of the University of Singapore demonstrates that this kind of behaviour does influence sales, but not in the way most marketers might expect. After combining an Asian retailers customer database of 14,000 customers with data from the Facebook API and Facebook Data Science Team, and using text analysis tools on the posts that their customers saw on Facebook, they reached the following conclusions: Posts by the marketer did not influence sales, but their comments and other direct interactions with consumers did. (Again, this is ignoring referrals.) Interactions with other consumers had a more dramatic impact on sales.

Information rich comments had a positive influence on sales, whether the comments were positive or negative surprisingly,

positive indirect communications with other consumers had the strongest impact on sales. At the same time, direct interactions with other consumers had the strongest impact on the price elasticity of demand. Direct interactions with other consumers essentially transformed the product into an inelastic commodity. While theres no doubt that your own Facebook posts can be optimized for referrals, where further persuasion can occur, it looks like the Facebook post itself isnt a good place to do any persuading. Instead, if you hope to use Facebook as a platform to drive sales directly, you need to get your audience talking to itself. Your number of Likes or followers is irrelevant. So, how do you get your audience talking? That starts with an understanding of what social networks are actually for. They arent a place for topically driven discussions the way that a blog comment section or a forum is. They are a place for people to entertain themselves and see what their friends and family are up to. For an idea of what works on social networks, you can look at Facebook Pages like Interesting Things, JustGirlyThings, and Deal Dash, all Pages that are doing the unthinkable: getting even more people talking about this than Liking their Page. While Im not remotely suggesting that you should copy everything these Pages are doing, I am suggesting that if you fail to understand why these Pages are working, you will fail to make the most of social networks.

The crucial thing to understand is that social networks are not blogs or forums. They are not niche communities. They are a mass market platform, and they are used almost exclusively for entertainment. While relevance is certainly important if you hope to drive traffic that converts, its actually more important to stick to bite-size content that people will talk about. Your hard-core audience doesnt live on social media. It lives on forums, blogs, and email. E-commerce is an increasingly difficult arena for start-ups. Without creative experimentation with offline, big data, and social media, the vast majority of start-ups will fall behind. Dont let that happen to you.

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP STRATEGY BY ALL E-COMMERCE

The 9-Steps strategy outlined:

Relationship: Optimise the whole customer relationship Reputation: Be true to the brand and its positioning Relevance: Service each customer community appropriately Value: Create enduring value first, tactical worth second Touchpoints: Manage the relationship at all appropriate touchpoints (CODAR) Imagination: Bring imagination to the customer experience Learning: Measure and learn Technology: Use technology like an artist Stakeholders: Make it good for everyone

Think in an integrated way, from strategy to practice, and back again, paying attention to the details that build brand and customer equity. Systematically develop business value through integrating customer sales, service and communication effectively. Use technology as a means to deliver CRM thinking, not as the objective.

EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES ON E-TAILING IN INDIA

Currently e-retailers in India are focusing on producing sustainable and profitable business strategies for their Internet-based operations. Established retailers in India are using physical channels as well as the Internet to market their products. Online shoppers prefer shopping at web sites operated by established high-street retailers. Levy and Weitz have stated that generally retailers survive and prosper by satisfying customer needs more effectively than their competitors, addressing customer needs through effective. E-tailing in India has rapidly emerged, emulating nonstore-based operations and demonstrate how the Internet can potentially completely redefine customer needs using the Internet and the web to create a virtual retail environment with extensive global coverage. For designing an effective e-tailing strategy in India, it is therefore needed to understand the needs of individual customers. Successful etailing are concerned with high velocity, flexible systems and procedures, extremely high service levels, and full electronic connections to the trading community. In order to develop the right e-tailing strategy, has addressed five points. They are: (i) Prompt delivery, (ii) Supply chain, (iii) Demand nature, (iv) Reverse logistics, and (v) Accuracy.

PROMPT DELIVERY The first major challenge faced by e-retailers was high expectations for prompt delivery of Web orders by customers. One of several delivery options such as, express (next day), priority (three to four days) and regular (five to ten days) may be selected and paid for by the customer while ordering the product.

SUPPLY CHAIN Ensuring supply of required amount of raw materials and products at the right time for the right price as well as proper slotting and picking methods are very much important for effective operating of e-tailing. Eretailers must have reliable supply-chain partners with the support of a back end supply-chain management systems. Proper slotting and picking methods based on the size, weight and demand nature must be devised to receive, slot, pick and pack properly. A warehouse management system should be a part of the supply chain management system to oversee the activities like order sorting, packing, and final bar coding for shipment.

DEMAND NATURE Successful e-retailing companies will have to assess the supply and demand condition so that they can meet unpredictable demand. A newsworthy event can create a huge demand for a product within a short time. Popular items and may need to be assessed on its future demand to avoid processing delays. Proper use of seasonality factors in forecasting models may contribute to better demand forecasting for highly unpredictable items.

REVERSE LOGISTICS In any retail business, some products are returned from the point of consumption. Therefore, the challenge is setting up infrastructure and procedures for reverse logistics. The process is not only inevitable but also gaining importance as a viable, sustainable and profitable business strategy. Procedures need to be established for returning orders. Drop-off points must also be set up. A customer wanting to return merchandise should be encouraged to have authorization to do so through the Web site. The e-tailors need to have an understandable product return policy on the Web. A copy of the same policy may also be included in the shipped package. A customer must identify the reason for returning the item. Based on the reason, one of several actions such as restocks, recycle, remanufacture, and send back to the supplier may be taken. A flexible sorting or packaging line in the warehouse may be used to handle returned items when needed.

ACCURACY To achieve high levels of accuracy in e-tailing business, the firm must consider the right equipment to increase accuracy. This will augment the nature of its operations, and the level of adjustment that managers are willing to make to minimize human errors. But if companies gather and analyse warehouse performance statistics regularly, invest in automated data collection and verification systems and equipment to the extent possible, create efficient picking procedures, and train all employees thoroughly, then they can improve their accuracy level and streamline the customer fulfilment process. In general the diagrammatic presentation of e-tailing activities of India would be as follows in figure 1:

AN EFFECTIVE E-TAIL DIAGRAM

Customers B2 B Demand Generator Mail Order /Telephone

Customers B2 C

Web enabled ERP/SCM System

Purchasing Vendor E-Fulfilment Centres

In-House Production
Transportation

Customers

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES ON E-RETAILING IN INDIA

They are: (i) Consumers can not touch and feel products, (ii) Orders can take several days to be delivered, (iii) Shipping costs are often excessive and (iv) Customer service is often poor and (v) Returns can be difficult. A number of consumer characteristics as potential obstacles to Internet growth, including consumer traditional shopping experiences, an aversion or lack of access to the required technology and the perceived risks of electronic shopping.

CONTROLLING CUSTOMER DATA As the delivery services are becoming more modern in using information technology, e-tailers may face some risks to properly handle on their consumer data. The data related to the socioeconomic status of customers to their buying patterns and preferences, helps intermediaries and shippers reduce costs.

PROBLEMS WITH THE PAYMENT SYSTEM People in India are not accustomed to the online shopping system and moreover the online payment system through the credit card is also totally alien to them. Most of them do not avail of the transaction facilities offered by the credit cards. They are also dubious regarding the online payment system through the credit cards. Companies should protect their system from hackers as customers often worry about theft of their personal information, such as a credit card number. Both technological and legal tools should be used to enhance the security of ecommerce.

LACK OF FULL COST DISCLOSURE It is easy to compare the basic price of an item online, it may not be easy to see the total cost up front as additional fees such as shipping are often not be mentioned.

HANDLING RETURNS The problem of returns is very much prominent in e-tailing businesses in India. The customers can return defective or unwanted merchandise which he receives. E-commerce retailers, with their emphasis on convenience and customization, must match this standard of service. At present, they do not.

DELIVERING THE GOODS COST-EFFECTIVELY At present, every single transaction challenges e-tailors to deliver the goods quickly, cheaply and conveniently. The existing mode for home delivery works well for letters and flat packages but not for e-tailing as it encompasses with high volumes and wide variety of package shapes and sizes.

PROBLEMS WITH SHIPPING The customers using the online shopping channel should be assured that the products that they have ordered would reach them in due time.

OFFLINE PRESENCE The customers of India should be assured that the online retailers are not only available online but offline as well. This gives them psychological comfort and trust. The concept of e- retailing or online retailing in India has not gained prominence as Indians prefer to touch the products physically before buying them. Studies have also revealed the preferences of the customers towards the traditional shopping methods. Hence the online retailer in India should first make it a point to spot the potential customers and accordingly plan out the product. LANGUAGE PROBLEM Most internet retail shops use English as their mode of communication. English may not be comprehensible to the majority of the Indian population. To increase the customer base, content in the online retail shops should be provided in local language. The opportunities of etailing industry in India are as follows:

CONVENIENCE: Normally, online stores are usually available 24 hours a day, and many consumers have internet access both at work and at home. PRICE AND SELECTION: One of the biggest advantages of online shopping is to find out quickly deals for items at services with many different vendors. Search engines, on-line price comparison services and discovering shopping items can be used to find out sellers for a particular products or services. Some retailers also offer free shipping on sufficiently large orders. Searching an online catalogue can be faster than browsing the physical catalogue of a brick and mortar store.

MARKET RESEARCH: Retailers can use their online presence as a tool to gain valuable customer information to forecast future customer demand. Baker (2005) has pointed out that online market research has some powerful advantages, such as monitoring real-time buying decisions. In addition, online customers have the knowledge and experience necessary to answer the questions, which produces more accurate and reliable data.

ONLINE CUSTOMER SERVICE: In India, websites are becoming new channels for conducting customer service; therefore their general acceptance level will increase, due to the benefits provided to customers. For example, a customer could ask for a product introduction or a personalised product in the pre-purchase stage, and could also check the delivery status online. All such services can be available uninterrupted online, which is almost impossible in the physical world, due to the cost.

PROMOTIONAL TOOL: A website can be used as a medium to conduct promotional experiments, due to the wide reach of the internet, and the low cost (Rao 1999). Therefore, it will be a great opportunity for Indian companies to promote their businesses.

MARKETING TOOL:

As indicated by Peterson et al. (1997), a

website is also an effective channel to communicate with customers. Organizations do not need to rely solely on one-way communication media, such as TV and newspapers. The internet provides a two-way communication channel. As a new communication channel, the internet can provide benefits to retailers, such as low costs, interactivity, personalization, and continuous communication. In this connection, Wang et al. (2002) have suggested that by better understanding consumers through customer relationship management, marketers can employ relationship marketing techniques in the retail market to provide personalized services.

HISTORY OF FLIPKART
Flipkart was founded in 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, both alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. They had been working for Amazon.com previously. The business was formally incorporated as a company in October 2008 as Flipkart Online Services Pvt. Ltd. During its initial years, Flipkart focused only on books, and soon as it expanded, it started offering other products like electronic goods, Air Conditioners, Air coolers, stationery supplies and life style products and e-books. The first product sold by them was the book, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, bought by VVK.Chandra from Andhra Pradesh. Flipkart now employs more than 4,500 people, and is ranked among the top 10 Indian websites. Flipkart's offering of products on Cash on Delivery is considered to be one of the main reasons behind its success. Flipkart also allows other payment methods-

Credit or Debit card transactions, net banking, e-gift voucher and Card Swipe on Delivery. The concept of e-commerce is downloading at a fairly rapid pace in the psyche of the Indian consumer. In the metros, shortage of time is a big driver for online shopping. On the other hand, accessibility to a variety of products makes audiences from smaller towns and cities opt for the online route. Major retailers face challenges in stocking their stores adequately. Often, customers are unable to purchase items of their choice, thus prompting them to resort to e-retailers. The growing popularity of Flipkart in the non-metro regions as well. We will close 2011-2012 with over $100 million in revenue. By 2015, we want to clock in $1billion, but looking at present trends, we may be able to do it sooner, states Binny, Flipkart's COO.

This statement doesn't seem far-fetched; a quick overview of India's Internet penetration shows a user base of approximately 100 million. The Government's National Broadband Plan, pegged at $4.5 billion, proposes to connect nearly 160 million additional Internet users by 2014. The spread, and subsequent adoption of e-commerce, thus, only seems logical. With several reputed brick-and-mortar retailers also offering online services, it seems natural the trend of shopping remotely will scale up substantially. The value proposition in either formats of retailing, physical and online, is different. It's the experience of touch-and-feel that makes physical shopping exciting. In the online context, convenience and comfort takes over. There's ample scope for both to grow, Sachin avers.

Finance
Initially, the founders had spent 4 lakh to set up the business. Flipkart has later raised funding from venture capital funds Accel India (US$1 million in 2009) and Tiger Global (US$10 million in 2010 and US$20 million in June 2011). On 24 August 2012, Flipkart announced the completion of its 4th round of $150 million funding from MIH (part of Naspers Group) and ICONIQ Capital. The company announced, on 10 July 2013, that it has raised an additional $200 million from existing investors including Tiger Global, Naspers, Accel Partners and Iconiq Capital. Flipkart's reported sales were 40 million in FY 20082009, 200 million in FY 20092010 and 750 million for FY 20102011. In FY 20112012, Flipkart is set to cross the 5 billion (US$100 million) mark as Internet usage in the country increases and people get accustomed to making purchases online.

On average, Flipkart sells nearly 20 products per minute and is aiming at generating a revenue of 50 billion (US$.81 billion) by 2015. In July 2013, Flipkart raised USD 160 million from private equity investors, taking the total to USD 360 million in its recent fund raising drive to build and strengthen technology and bolster its supply chain. In October 2013, it was reported that Flipkart had raised an additional $160 million from new investors Dragoneer Investment Group, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Sofina SA and Vulcan Capital with participation from existing investor Tiger Global. With this, the company has raised a total $360 million in its fifth round of funding, the largest investment raised by an Internet company in India, emulating In Mobis $200 million investment from Softbank in September 2011. The company valued at approx. 9900 crore (US$1.6 billion) (Nov 2013), and plans to use the capital raised to improve its technology and supply chain capabilities, enhance its end user experience and for hiring.

BANGALORE, DEC 13: E-commerce major Flipkart today announced the launch of PayZippys customer-facing product for online consumers. Flipkart Payment Gateway Services (FPGS) Pvt Ltd has launched the customer-facing end of PayZippy (www.payzippy.com), the company said in a release. This service lets customers enjoy a faster, smoother and safer online payment experience across a range of merchants, it added.

MUMBAI, JUNE 13: Ecommerce player Flipkart, that downed shutters of its music service Flyte earlier this month, has discontinued sales of consumer durables such as television sets, refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machines since the past one month. The move has raised questions on the business model of the countrys largest e-tailer, especially with Amazon entering the Indian e-commerce space. Bangalore-based Flipkart, which once had over 1,000 branded consumer durables and white goods across international and regional brands such as Samsung, Panasonic, Whirlpool and LG among others, has taken to selling small electronic goods at present. Confirming the move, a Flipkart spokesperson said, We keep various factors in mind while arriving at our service matrix. This could be our shipping partners in a state, our delivery capabilities or order volumes. These are purely business decisions that arise from time to time in an organisation that is scaling as rapidly as ours. These change from time to time depending on circumstances and are not necessarily permanent.

INDUSTRY CHALLENGES FOR FLIPKART

Queried on the timing of the discontinuation, AnkurBisen, VicePresident, Technopak Advisory services, was unwilling to comment on a specific company. He said most e-trailers selling bulky white goods were facing challenges, in terms of logistics and inventory. There is a high cost of shipping involved in large cargo items. This cost has to be borne by the company. Sometimes there are other issues such as breakage during delivery. There are demand issues too, as the frequency of buying goods such as TVs and washing machines is not that high. According to a recent Google survey on Online shopping trends 2013, apparels and accessories were pegged as the most rapidly expanding categories and have overtaken electronic items, including white goods. The report further adds that the share of electronic items decreased to 44 per cent in 2013 from 39 per cent in 2011. Incidentally, Flipkart entered the apparel segment this year. Analysts have termed the apparel business a high margin and high volume one. Nimit Grover, Head-Marketing of online marketplace Tradus.com, that also sells white goods, said that the share of white goods is less .than 10 per cent and does not feature in the top five categories of goods sold online.

DISTRIBUTION NETWORK OF FLIPKART

Grover added that while people tend to buy online for better deals and easy availability, the issue with white goods is that most offline players score given their strong distribution network. The same holds true in small towns, where the deals could be more lucrative, he said. Apart from the logistic issues, we are facing difficulty in passing on the margin benefits to customers, as the shipping charges of bulky items are 10 times higher compared to other categories, Grover said.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF FLIPKART

This free SWOT analysis shows strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. We cover over 40,000 companies and industries. This SWOT analysis for Flipkart.com can provide a competitive advantage.

Strengths
1. 1. Early market entrant with brand equity 2. Integrated services like online ticket tracking, online money transfers etc. 3. Vast customer base due to international presence 4. Provides customized user shopping experience by tracking users 5. Has over 33,000 employees in over 20 countries. 1.

Weaknesses
Less presence in emerging market.

Opportunities
1. 1. The markets devoid of internet 2.Customers reluctant in shopping online can be persuaded 3.Partnerships with corporate houses for bulk selling. 1.

Threats
1. Can be subjected to frauds 2.Risk of Brand Dilution by selling a very wide range of products 3. Newly emerging competitive online shopping portals.

HISTORY OF AMAZON
The company was founded in 1994, spurred by what Bezos called his "regret minimization framework", which described his efforts to fend off any regrets for not participating sooner in the Internet business boom during that time. In 1994, Bezos left his employment as vice-president of D. E. Shaw & Co., a Wall Street firm, and moved to Seattle. He began to work on a business plan for what would eventually become Amazon.com. After reading a report about the future of the Internet which projected annual Web commerce growth at 2,300%, Bezos created a list of 20 products which could be marketed online. He narrowed the list to what he felt were the five most promising products which included: compact discs, computer hardware, computer software, videos, and books. Bezos finally decided that his new business would sell books online, due to the large world-wide demand for literature, the low price points for books, along with the huge number of titles available in print. Amazonwas originally founded in Bezos' garage in Bellevue, Washington. We are a very young promising group of people having vast experience in managing large distribution house by the name of Kalpataru. We have direct tie up with top FMCG companies like Hindustan Unilever, Garnier, Loreal, Heinz, Reckitt Benkiser, Johnson & Johnson, Vodafone, Reliance Capital, Lotus etc. We have more than 400 Staffs & about to reach 200 Crore landmark Turnover very shortly. We are thankful to all the parent companies that has helped us & guided us in expanding our business fast. Our Success Story has been build up on Customer Relation & Trustworthiness among all our internal & external members.

As we already have large distribution network in Kolkata we just made a plan to go little more to reach out your door through e-Shop model & facilitate the consumers to shop at their doorsteps & save smartly. For that customers have to Call or Log for enjoying our Facilities & Benefits.

Our main motto is to 1) Bargain the best offer for customers, 2) facilitate shopping at home comfort, 3) Save smartly, 4) Follow up the customer complaint effectively & 5) Nurture loyal customers.

We hope this e-Shop endeavour will help us in developing Relationship with the end customers & fulfilling our motto.

OVERVIEW OF HOW AMAZON OPERATES

Amazons interactive technology is smart. It's naturally focused on servicing the high value customers; its services naturally favour the regular shopper, while effective with the low value shopper. It can add up the margin on individual customers and knows their interests. When an existing customer comes online, Amazon practices the direct marketing principle of recognising the customer by using a cookie previously placed on their computer. As a result, Amazon personalises what the customer sees. For example, each customer will get tailored recommendations. These recommendations are generated using

sophisticated statistical software that profiles the kinds of interests of each customer and also compares them with other customers, profiling them into similar groups. Each of the books and other products that Amazon carries also has category information about it, and of course there is the buying history of which customers are buying it. As a result, Amazon is more able to recommend books or other products that are likely to be relevant to that particular individual. The website is therefore designed as a sophisticated communication tool that automates the process of creating value for the customer by recognising his or her interests. It is an interactive, direct marketing tool that facilitates a stream of dialogue between the customer and the brand. As the customer buys or does not buy products, knowledge about the customer increases, as does the ability to serve their interests and needs.

The Amazon Internet system can also provide other related services that complement this. For example, the customer is able to register their interests, which is used in profiling, and can also register to receive information in the form of newsletters. On the Amazon.com site services provided include prompts and advice about birthday presents. This is an example of permission marketing. To add to customer involvement, there is even a facility to set up information about you for others to read. Amazon makes use of one of the characteristics of the Web that is regarded as its particular strength. This is the ability to allow people to dialogue with each other. The way it does this is by allowing customers to review books and other products. Direct marketing has always aimed to involve the customer and this is a very powerful technique for doing so. Customers trust each other, often more than then they trust what they know to be advertising material. So one of the functions on the website is a system to allow customers to record their reviews, which are then scored according to how much they are appreciated by other customers. Amazon, however, goes beyond merely providing this function; it adds the classic direct marketing technique of recognising and rewarding its best customers those who provide many valued reviews. Readers can even review the reviewers and find out about their interests. Amazon set about finding ways to increase the sense of customer community and belonging, as well as providing interesting information for customers. So you can access information such as the favourite books of people living in Detroit, or how many people are actually online from Minnesota. Each Internet firm needs to tailor its functionality according to the kinds of services and information that its customers would find valuable.

And of course the website is designed as a way of selling. Amazon focused step-by-step on the whole process of selling to customers online, streamlining the process to make it as fast as possible while adding in as many hooks as it could to sell additional products in the process (for example, by telling you what other customers who have bought the book you have just bought have also found worth buying). From the moment of clicking on the Amazon site in My Favourites, it takes 15 seconds or less to complete the ordering of a book, including paying for it. Its patented one click technology gives unique advantage in creating customer convenience. Here is also a very practical use of knowledge of the customer designed to service the customer.

About FREE AmazonGlobal Saver Shipping

With FREE AmazonGlobal Saver Shipping, you receive free shipping to India, New Zealand, and Singapore if your order includes at least $125 of qualifying merchandise, excluding the Import Fees Deposit, gift-wrap charges, duties, and taxes. Most products shipped using the AmazonGlobal Program that is sold by Amazon.com is eligible for AmazonGlobal Saver. Items 20 lb. or more, certain oversize items, edocuments, software downloads, music downloads and gift cards don't qualify.

Cancelling items, combining orders, or changing your shipping address, speed or preference might affect your order's AmazonGlobal Saver Shippingeligibility.

If your order doesn't qualify for AmazonGlobal Saver Shipping: The order may contain ineligible items. A special product, order, or handling fee may still apply. An eligible item that was cancelled brought the total below $125.

MARKETING STRATEGY BY AMAZON

Amazon India announced the availability of a guaranteed 'one-day delivery' service for items fulfilled by Amazon in select pin codes across several Indian cities including Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Pune. Customers in eligible pin codes can now choose 'One-Day Delivery' at the time of checkout and can enjoy guaranteed next-day delivery service by placing the orders before the cut-off time. Customers in Mumbai and Pune can place orders as late as midnight to receive items next day. For other pin codes the cut-off time to place orders under this offer is currently 3.00 pm. 'One Day Delivery' guarantees service is available at a charge of Rs 99 per order, and requires no minimum order value. Orders placed with 'One-Day Delivery' service are guaranteed to be delivered the next business day excluding Sundays and public holidays. Amazon.in will automatically refund shipping charges if orders are not received by the promised day.

INTEGRATED MARKETING OF AMAZON

Research across a range of industries and companies by the Centre for Integrated Marketing has identified a number of high impact diagnostic factors that indicate successful Integrated Marketing in organisations and brands. Amazons customer focused implementation of technology registers a high score on many of these, including on the following essential factors:

Customers feel that all their brand experiences come from one identity. Customers trust the brands promises. The brand treats different kinds of customers in ways appropriate to them. Whenever appropriate, the brand recognises individual customers wherever they interact or do business. Customers are happy with the brand experience. There is a service-oriented ideal that encourages aligned commitment across the organisation. Everyone nurtures what the brand means to committed customers. The brand organisation is excellent at realising high value propositions. Objectives are coherent with the brand/companys competence. There are no silos. Practices ensure shared learning across the organisation. The organisation works in effective partnership with the members of its value stream.

Amazon SWOT analysis

Strengths
2. Cost leadership strategy

Weaknesses
2. Only online presence

3. Superior quality services and products 3. Selling at zero margins 4. Strategic acquisitions
4. Negative publicity

5. Efficient distribution chain and logistics

6. Economies of scope

Opportunities
2. Online payment system

Threats
2. Online security

3. Release more its own brand products and 3. Lawsuits services 4. Strategic alliances 4. Increase services and product portfolio 5. Legislation against tax avoidance through acquisitions
6. Regional low cost online retailers 5. Open more online stores in other countries 6. Physical presence

1. Have you ever experience of online shopping?

EXPERIENCE Yes No

FREQUENCY 8 12

PERCENTAGE 40 60

Column1
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 YES NO

As the above question answer is describe graphically its say that 40% of the people have been visited to the online sites as per the survey graph result and 60% people still has not been visited to the online sites. So, the conclusion for this question as per the survey is that still less number of people have an experience of online shopping.

2. How often do you visit online website for shopping?

VISIT Daily Weekly Monthly Yearly FREQUENCY 2 8 8 2 PERCENTAGE 5 35 55 5

Column1
60 40 20 0 DAILY WEEKLY MONTHLY YEARLY

As the above question answer is describe graphically its says in India only 5% of people visit online shopping daily and early and 35% of people visit the online sites weekly and 55% of people visited online sites monthly. So, the conclusion for this question as per the survey is that, Indian users has been visited the sites monthly for their shopping.

3. Do you feel that online transaction is secured?

SECURITY Yes No

FREQUENCY 14 6

PERCENTAGE 70 30

Column1

80 60 40 20 0 YES NO

As the above question answer is describe graphically its say that 70% of people are secured in online transaction as per the survey graph result and 30% people have low trust on online transaction. So, the conclusion for this question as per the survey is that there is a high level of degree of secured transaction.

4. What would be your best payment method if you buy online?

PAYMENT METHOD Debit/credit card Cash on delivery FREQUENCY 8 12 PERCENTAGE 40 60

Column1

60 40 20 0 DEBIT/CREDIT CARD CASH ON DELIVERY

As the above question answer is describe graphically its say that 40% people used to prefer debit or credit card system for their online transaction as per compared to the cash on delivery by 60%. So, the conclusion for this question as per the survey is that, Maximum number of people prefer cash on delivery facility for payment because they give the payment after seeing the product.

5. Which online site can meet your requirements?

ONLINE SITES Amazon Flipkart Others

FREQUENCY 5 9 6

PERCENTAGE 25 45 30

Column1
50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 AMAZON FLIPKART OTHERS

As the above question answer is describe graphically its say that 25% of the requirement are meet to consumer demand whereas 45% consumer can get their requirement on Flipkart and the remaining 30% demand gets fulfilled by other online sites. As per the survey graph result Flipkart has variety of product on their sites to meet consumer demand.

6. Which of the sites offer more discount on product?

DISCOUNT AMAZON FLIPKART OTHERS

FREQUENCY 8 6 6

PERCENTAGE 40 30 30

Column2
40 30 20 10 0 Amazon Flipkart Others

As the above question answer is describe graphically its say that the consumers getting more offers and discount from Amazon i.e 40% whereas consumers gets less discount offers from flipkart i.e 30% as well as others online shoppers also give stiff competition to the flipkart and amazon by giving more discount.

7. Which of the following features you observe before obtaining from online websites?
FEATURES DISCOUNT DELIVERY PACKAGING EASY TO REPLACEMENT FREQUENCY 12 4 2 2 PERCENTAGE 60 20 10 10

60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Column1

According to the research, 60% of consumers are looking for a Discount before order a product from online sites. Whereas 20% consumer think that delivery time is more important for obtaining a product. In online shopping packaging is must and therefore 10% consumer look beyond the packaging of the product. The remaining 10% consumer prefer to obtain product from those sites which has better replacement facility.

8. Which online site takes less time in dispatch and delivery?

ONLINE SITES AMAZON FLIPKART OTHERS FREQUENCY 6 10 4 PERCENTAGE 30 50 20

Column2
50 40 30 20 10 0 Amazon Flipkart Others

As the above question answer is describe graphically its says that 30% of consumers believes that Amazon takes minimum time for the dispatching and delivery of product whereas 50% believes that flipkart takes very less time in dispatching and delivery because of their own logistic system. The remaining 20% consumers getting a quick delivery from others online sites. So, the conclusion for this question as per research is flipkart has quick deliver facility.

9. Which online company has best marketing strategy and brand?

ONLINE SITES AMAZON FLIPKART OTHERS FREQUENCY 8 8 4 PERCENTAGE 40 40 20

Column1
40 30 20 10 0 Amazon Flipkart Others

According to the research on the above question 40% & 40% of consumer believes that Amazon and flipkart stand on a same position respectively that is Amazon worldwide online sites has stand in a number 1 brand in online shopping whereas Flipkart use the innovative marketing strategy for the product. The remaining 20% consumers says others online sites has good marketing strategy. So, the conclusion of the research is Amazon and Flipkart has cut throat competition in the market.

10.

Which online site has better replacement facility?

PROBLEMS AMAZON FLIPKART OTHERS FREQUENCY 7 7 6 PERCENTAGE 35 35 30

Column1
36 34 32 30 28 26 Amazon Flipkart Others

As the above question answer is describe graphically its say that again Amazon and Flipkart has a stiff competition in replacement facility also i.e. 35% respectively. The remaining 30% consumers believes that others online shopping sites also gives better replacement facility if they face some damage to the product.

OBSERVATION & CONCLUSION

While free and discounted shipping is a big story, there is more to online shopping and the customer experience. In fact, many shoppers are willing to pay a nominal fee to receive the product faster if given the option. Shipping and delivery timing is important during check-out its all about communication! To reduce shopping cart abandonment, retailers should show the shipping costs, present how much more should be purchased to get free shipping, and give consumers the option of shipping time frames. Customers are willing to wait for their packages, but need to know what is happening they want estimated delivery time clearly stated and they want e-mail or text alerts about their delivery. Also important to the customer is the feeling of control. Options such as special delivery instructions, the ability to schedule a late delivery, or having a delivery window give the consumers the control they need to better their shipping experience. According to the research study on role of logistic in online shopping in flipkart and Amazon, both the company has a better logistic system in Indian market by keeping a strict watch on just in time strategy. Both the company focussing on better customer service to the consumer who are engage in online shopping. As there is a stiff competition between amazon and flipkart, therefor they are offering product at a les price to achieve the market strength.

RECOMMENDATION
My recommendation to this project I done is as follows:

1. Online shopping sites have to keep transparency in transaction to satisfy consumer of secured.

2. Flipkart and Amazon both has to adapt logistic techniques for quickly delivery of product to an end users.

3. Amazon need to do a more and innovative advertising for enhancing demand in Indian market.

4. Online company must have accurate customer care service facility to the consumer if any disturbance occurred.

5. In my experience of internet business and what I have studied from gurus who share online business guides, I realized it is advisable to create a blog for your business. The advantage that a blog has over a website is that on a blog you will be able to interact with your target audience. While on a website communication is one way.

6. Online should assist your customers by responding to their feed-back and any problems they are encountering as regard to the product or service. As you communicate you will create customer confidence thus generate business sales leads.

BIBLIOGRAPHY & WEBLIOGRAPHY

Reference Books

a) Supply Chain Management: Concepts And Cases Author: Rahul Altekar Edition: V

b) Supply Chain Management Author: John T Mentzer, Sage Publications

c) Supply chain management Author: Jayashree Dubey, M.L. Sai Kumar

d) Exploring the supply chain theory and practice. By Upendra Kachru ,

WEBSITES
www.google.com Article the TOI Article the business line The economic times www.ibm.com/e-business

LIMITATION
1. There was a time limit because not able to reach every consumer who obtain product from online sites. 2. In India there are less number of illiterate people in India therefore it was difficult to gain perception of every consumer about online shopping. 3. There were only 100 respondent for the research.

ANNEXTURE
PROJECT REPORT ON

A DETAILED STUDY ON ROLE OF LOGISTIC IN ONLINE SHOPPING WITH RESPECT TO FLIPKART & AMAZON IN INDIA
PADMASHREE DR. D. Y. PATIL UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

C.B.D BELAPUR

1. Have you ever experience of online shopping? o Yes o No

2. How often do you visit online website for shopping? o Daily o Weekly o Monthly o Annually 3. Do you feel that online transaction is secured? o Yes o No

4. What would be your best payment method if you buy online? o o Debit / Credit Card Cash on delivery

5. Which online site can meet your requirements? o Amazon.com o Flipkart.com o Others

6. Which of the sites offer more discount on product? o Amazon.com o Flipkart.com o Others

7. Which of the following features you observe before obtaining from online websites? o Discount o Delivery time o Packaging o Easy to replace

8. Which online site takes less time in dispatch and delivery? o Amazon.com o Flipkart.com o Others

9. Which online company has best marketing strategy and brand? o Amazon.com o Flipkart.com o Others

10. Which online site has better replacement facility? o Amazon.com o Flipkart.com o Others