New Year Resolutions to be taken by e-commerce companies in India

2014 had been a year for e-commerce industry which has benefited customers across India. Both – customers and e-commerce sites – have learned a lot from each other in 2014. Now with the New Year, starting from January 1, 2015, customers hope the e-commerce companies should incorporate many changes that require to make the buying process easy and faster. And so, a group of e-commerce customers have come up with a list of The New Year Resolutions, to be taken by the online stores is released. This will not only reduce the number goods or items returned, but it will also make transactions more successful.

The New Year Resolutions to be taken by e-commerce companies...

1) Start awareness programme on 'How to buy the product and that too at best rate?'

Currently, several customers are still new to the Internet world and may end up buying wrong products. For them, the e-commerce companies should start an awareness programme on how to buy the right product with the best price from e-commerce sites. This will drastically reduce the customer complaints.

2) Consistency of product types and categories

Of the total customer complaints, the most of them are of receiving wrong product such as different colour or different shape or different design. Whatever is showed on the websites, only that product must be delivered.

3) Improve the process of customer feedback

Instead of sending just one mail to rate the product, if possible, without spamming, e-commerce companies can send text messages or also make a call to get the genuine feedback. Sometimes the customer may not have time to rate or fill the forms online. Hence, by keeping objective questions, feedback can be taken by making calls.

4) Stick to commitments

By giving advertisements, e-commerce companies are communicating about the heavy discounts being offered. But from now onwards they should also start disclosing inventory. This may not disappoint customer. For an instance, 'xyz brand black mobile phone is available with 30% discount. Only 200 pieces are available in the stock. Hurry up'. If this is also communicated in the advertisements the customer may not get disappointed if he misses the opportunity to buy that product online.

5) Logistic companies should not be lenient

Many customers have complaint that the courier guy delivered the product either to security guard or the neighbour without informing the customer. As the logistic companies have all the details of the customer, they should try to call the customer and with his or her permission the courier boy can deliver to neighbour or security guard.

Beaches hot destination in chilling winter

Beautiful beaches, sunny weather, music, cocktails and parties, is sufficient to attract entire world to come here and celebrate Xmas and New Year. Like every year, beaches is once again the most favorite and hot touring destination in the India in the last fortnight of the year ending on 31st December, 2014.

All the agents across country have booked planes, trains, bus tickets for Goa, Kerala and Andaman & Nicobar islands. Meanwhile, many travel freaks have decided to use their own vehicle to reach to their favorite respective destinations. But hotels are almost booked. It is now very difficult to get a room at a budget hotel in Goa.

Who says there is recession or slowdown? Starting from travel agents, hotels, guides, flights, railways, DJs, sound system providers and others connected to tourism are very busy entire week. Forget discounts, at some places the prices are beyond tariff as the demand is exceeding the supply.

For lucky ones rooms are still available but tariff are skyrocketing. However, travel enthusiasts does not care for high tariff. They just prepare and take the first step towards their touring destination.

As per travel agents, the second most popular touring destination for next ten days, is Kerala. Here the backwaters, beaches, spa and several things attract the tourists. Visiting Kerala may be expensive but still it is one of the favorite destinations for tourist for New Year.

Further more expensive touring destination, Andaman & Nicobar Islands is too hot touring destination during this period. The hotel rooms at one of the most beautiful islands and beaches, Havelock Islands are believed to be full for the entire week ending on first Sunday of January 2014.

There are also travel freaks who have decided to go for some adventurous place by choosing Himachal Pradesh or Sikkim or any chilling place which has snow and much below zero degree celsius. Among them, Shimla is most popular, followed by Dharmsala, Dalhousie, Sikkim and others. Flights to all the freezing touring destinations are full. Even the room tariffs have gone up and occupancy is almost full.

For international trips, Thailand remains on top. As being one of the most economical, Thailand, Dubai, Singapore, Indonesia and surrounding areas are the most favorite touring places during New Year Vacation.

This year apart from Goa and Kerala, people want to feel below zero degree temperature, said Priyanka Menon from Kesari Travels. “Shimla, Kullu, Manali, Dharamsala and other places from Himachal Pradesh have got one of the largest inquiries this year in winter. People are also according spending good money during their vacation,” she said.

To take a feel of seeing the moon like land, people also prefer Kutch to participate in the Rann Utsav. However, people prefer staying in hotels which are economical compared to the tents.

In India people mostly visit three place Goa, Kerala and Mumbai for New Year parties, believe Laxmikant Bhatt of Lipi Tours and Travels. “People visit Goa for Feast of St Francis Xavier and Sunburn,” he said.

During December Kerala has awesome weather with drizzling at times, he said. “Tourist visits Kerala specially to celebrate boat race where the most exciting and colourful water sport festivals held. Even the boat houses are very popular,” said Bhatt.

Interestingly, Mumbai is most crowded during this time as it is famous for beach parties in its surrounding areas and also for its most affordable shopping. Many have also decided to go to Mumbai and attend Bollywood parties.

Wish you all Merry Xmas & New Year from Infibeam family.

Infibeam Becomes Exclusive Online Reseller for Airtel's TV On-Demand Wi-Fi Dongle

Airtel is set to revolutionize digital entertainment with its latest TV On-Demand Wi-Fi Dongle. This Wi-Fi enabler allows Airtel Digital TV HD users easily experience the On Demand TV service.

Digital entertainment will now reach a new height with Airtel's Digital TV On-Demand Wi-Fi dongle. Recently, Airtel, India's leading telecommunication brand, has launched a Wi-Fi Dongle, which allows Airtel Digital TV HD users easily experience the On Demand TV service.

With this Wi-Fi enabler, HD users can enjoy a video library of more than 1000+ movie titles including the latest movies, sitcoms, TV shows, fitness guides and also catch up on last 6 days of pre-recorded TV shows across 35 top rated channels by just plugging this device in their STB and having a handy Wi-Fi connection. This device is for HD/HD+/HD-DVR boxes to be used with a Wi-Fi connection > 2Mbps speed.

This Wi-Fi dongle is packed with lot of benefits. Users can experience superior quality entertainment in digital world of Airtel. It's just a few touches away of your remote control. Watch episodes, movies and trailers. Pause, rewind and fast forward! A rich library of Hollywood classics and Bollywood latest hits is at your disposal. Not just this; give your eyes a visual treat with animated movies, devotional videos, cookery shows to yoga and aerobics.

The Wi-Fi dongle enables you to download and watch any of the hundreds of titles from Airtel library, when you want to, on-demand. No matter which part of India you belong to, our library has rich entertainment content served in English, Hindi and several other regional languages. DVD-like control of your TV: pause, play, rewind, fast forward or play in slow-motion.

This On-Demand Wi-Fi dongle is exclusively available on Infibeam – one of the fast growing online shopping portals in India. The dongle is available at Rs.849/- at Infibeam. Now go for this On-Demand Wi-Fi Dongle and experience entertainment like never before.

Order Now: http://www.infibeam.com/airtel-digital-tv-exclusive

GOSF: Traffic at Infibeam hits all time high

The wholesale price index (WPI) was zero in Novemeber 2014. Can it go further down and can WPI go negative in December? Quite possible. Thanks to Great Online Shopping Festival (GOSF) which offered heavy discounts for 72 hours. Jokes apart, but GOSF is a big success. Many items were sold for discounts of even up to 80%. As an impact, consumer has saved a lot and also spent a lot.

This year, without any interruption, the GOSF started from 0000 hours of 10 December, 2014 and lasted untill 23.59 of 12 December 2014. People have bought many items including unusual ones like house, groceries products, bridal wear and many.

But the most popular buying happened on the GOSF at 'Rs299 corner', where everything was on sale for Rs299 only. Interestingly almost none of the items went out of stock. Moreover, many e-commerce partners of GOSF including Infibeam extended the 'Rs299 corner' for two to three additional days.

Compared to normal days, Infibeam had witnessed multiple growth in number of visits, number of transactions and sales too during GOSF. On the e-commerce portal of Infibeam, the traffic was eight times more in three days of GOSF compared to other days. It is believed that the traffic at Infibeam was at peak during these three days. Overall the customer base of Infibeam has also increased in the festival.

Even the number of orders have increased by 10 times during the festival. Usually books top the chart of most items sold, but during the three days of GOSF, the trend was different. The most common and popular items that were sold on Infibeam during GOSF were bags, necklaces, power banks and watches.

It is estimated that the revenue of Infibeam has also jumped by seven times. On normal days, the discounts are not so high and so the sale is always low. But during GOSF, as many products were sold with discount at Rs299, the number of transactions shot up and hence, the revenue is expected to grow seven times during span of three days of GOSF.

Who can buy what on GOSF!

It has been not even two months after Diwali and consumer is all set to spend more eyeing several new opportunities of buying different products and items with heavy discounts. Starting from apparels, electronics, gadgets, gaming tools and home, all products are offered at heavy discounts at over 420+ brands in over 20 categories at www.gosf.in.

As estimated by different brands and Google, 'Great Online Shopping Festival (GOSF)', starting from 10 December, 2014 is expected to get over millions of hits for three days, untill midnight of 12 December, 2014. Compared to previous two years, the number of transactions is expected to see multi-growth of over 10 times.

By profession he is a doctor but by heart he is a consumer. Dr Kunal Jhaveri from Mumbai is keen and prepared for GOSF to buy so many things before going to a destination wedding scheduled in January 2015. He wants to buy gift for bride and groom, apparels for immediate family attending wedding, a luggage bag and warm wear.

"I have already studied the physical markets and checked the prices of the various brands and product. I am cocksure that I will get what i want at much lower price from GOSF. I am expecting to save up to 30% by buying online," said Jhaveri.

For housewife, Mamta Shah from Ahmedabad, GOSF is a timely event to fulfill her needs. For kids she wants to buy sweaters and jackets. In coming days, she is expecting guests at home and before that she wants to change the curtains, bed sheets and other items. "I have already done alots of shopping in Diwali. But thanks to GOSF, my appetite for shopping has increased. I think it is not shopping but it is one kind of savings," she believes.

It has been six months, the banking professional from Bangaluru, Siddarth Wodiyar is seeking a beautiful affordable house in the city. "For me the most challenging part is to get an affordable house in Bangaluru. I am confident that I will get a best affordable house in the desired destination, only through GOSF. Different options in the 'Real Estate' category is going to help me," he said.

Biker Anshuman Dutta loves to explore new destination across country on his bullet. He is expecting some good automobile accessories and best hotel deals in coming days from GOSF. "As Christmas vacation is just ten days away and I am planning to buy some good decorative stuff for my bike and book some hotel rooms at tourist destination. Only GOSF can help me out at this moment,
" said Dutta.

Rs299 CORNER to be the Centre of GOSF

For the first time, Google has come up with an interesting and innovative concept for consumers under the name of 'Rs299 corner' at Great Online Shopping Festival (GOSF). It is expected that among all sections, this part 'Rs299 CORNER' is going to be the main attraction of GOSF.

Each and every item in this part of the portal will be sold at flat Rs299. Most interesting part of this corner is, free shipping and even COD is available. Usually, shipping is charged in many cases, and COD is unlikely for such low priced items.

There are hundreds of retailers, who are set to offer products in different categories. Consumers will get good branded stuff in different categories such as jewellery, watches, kitchenware, travel accessories, home furniture, wall clocks, mobile accessories, automobile accessories and many more, for just Rs299.

This experiment is going to be a big hit as several numbers of products will be available at very economical price. As over 400 brands are participating, the consumer is going to get a wide range of products.

It is believed that Google is expecting very high number of hits for this section compared to all sections at www.gosf.in. The rain of discounts at GOSF will begin from 00:00 hours of 10 December, 2014 for three days.

Last year, GOSF got overwhelming response and server could not manage the traffic. Hence, the GOSF was extended for one more day. This year, Google is believed to be all set to manage all kinds of hurdles.

The e-commerce war between all companies participating in GOSF and other e-com sites is going to be aggressive. The heavy discounts being offered by e-com sites and GOSF have already become talk of the town. The TV commercials are already on air. And, the print media is expected to be flooded with full page advertisements of e-com sites offering heavy discounts.

However, the winner is going to be the consumer.

GOSF 2014: 23 categories, 420+ Brands, 3 Days & Heavy Discounts

Let Reserve Bank of India (RBI) keep the interest rates unchanged. Let the consumer price inflation be above 5.50%. But the consumer is all set to save a lot for three days. These three super big days for Indian consumers are just few days away.

The big annual three-day event, initiated by Google, 'Great Online Shopping Festival' (GOSF) is all set to kick off from 10 December, 2014 on www.gosf.in. This time it has more categories and higher number of brands participating in the event. In the third annual event in India taking place in December every year, GOSF has 420+ brands participating in about 23 different categories.

In last one year, the online buying has seen growth of over 100% growth and hence huge demand is expected this year. Not only the brands, but every single consumer is keen and eagerly waiting for GOSF. Interestingly, on an average over 8,000 consumers each in top 14 cities of country have participated in 'The Game' on www.gosf.in.

What's new this year?

This is the most important question being raised in every consumer's mind. What is new on GOSF this year? Last year 'Real Estate' and few others were the new categories. This year many consumers have found new interesting categories like 'Education', 'Luxury Premium Products', 'Bridal Collection' and many more exciting categories.

This year's GOSF has also come out with 'Rs299 corner'. In this section, a variety of products will be sold for just Rs299 that too without any shipping and COD cost.

Similarly, Google has kept a dedicated section 'exclusive launch offer' in which the Indian consumer will be able to buy such products which are never sold in India ever before. These products will be exclusively launched only on GOSF and its partners.

Being year 2014, there is an encouraging offer for consumers. Partnering with 14 brands, GOSF is giving opportunity to 14 winners free shopping for 14 min worth up to Rs2.5 lakh.

Apart from that, contesting in game is already on. Since 25 November, 'Play the game and Win a GOSF Deal' has begun and thousands of consumers across country are participating in it every day.

Infibeam Appoints Hiren Padhya as CFO

The fastest growing e-commerce technology company of India, Infibeam gets new Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Hiren Padhya. As one more further step towards hitting capital market, Infibeam appoints Mr Padhya as CFO, who, is going to play a key role in the company.

By profession, Mr Padhya holds degrees in Chartered Accountant (CA), Cost Accountant (ICWA) and Company Secretary (CS) after completing bachelor of commerce from H L College, Ahmedabad. He has been a hardcore finance professional with 21 years' solid experience mainly in Finance, Accounts, Project, Business Plan, SEZ formalities and its implementation, MIS and Taxation.

Despite being tough task master Mr Padhya is also a good motivator with excellent interpersonal skills in dealing with subordinates, peers, and superiors. So far, he has gained rich experience in Management Report and controls, reporting to Managing Director, Finance Director and Chairman.

Started his career as Manager (Finance) in 1993 in Ashima Limited with total tenure of almost a decade. In 2002, he joined Elecon group as General Manager (Finance) where the additional portfolio over and above Finance & Accounts, was related to Purchase, Excise and implementation of Oracle.

He was fortunate to have an opportunity to work in big trading group, Adani Exports Limited in 2004 where he got the complete exposure of large scale imports of Coal, exports of Iron Ore, Power trading and Port development project. In two years, Mr Padhya moved to pharmaceutical sector and joined Unimark Remedies Ltd as Vice President (Accounts). In the short-run, he was promoted to Corporate Financial Controller in the company.

Meanwhile, SEZ rules were framed in 2006 and all tax benefits were given to SEZ. Mr Padhya got an opportunity in SEZ of Jubilant group at Bharuch as CFO and Company Secretary in 2008. During his tenure, he developed SEZ and two SEZ Units ensuring all legal compliance and Tax benefits. Then, he came back to Ahmedabad in early 2011 to join an MNC – Duravit India Pvt. Ltd. again as CFO. He was responsible for all compliances including Secretarial over and above Finance, Taxation and Accounts. His last assignment was at Rubber King Tyres as CFO before joining Infibeam.

Mr Padhya brings rich finance experience and will be an invaluable asset to Infibeam. Apart from reading financial books, annual reports and financial statements, Mr Padhya is passionate about making friends, helping others and involved in Brahmakumaris at spiritual level.

Infibeam welcomes Mr Padhya to the family.