Ecommerce has taken the world by storm. Its not-so-new 'sister concern', m-commerce is turning a new page in online buying, with Myntra, India's largest online fashion and apparel company, going app-only last month. However, we might be on the verge of seeing new platforms, which most of us didn't think of going the ecommerce way, changing the way we shop online. Some prominent among these, in the very near future, will be Google, Twitter and Pinterest.
1. Google: Google recently initiated talks of featuring a 'buy' button in its search results, thus enabling a customer to buy from the search page directly. Google's most important service to the world has been its ability to organize the world's knowledge and the company makes big bucks through advertisements on its search page and AdWords. But, this side of the business could very well be witnessing its biggest competition so far, shopping apps.
Nearly, every company has moved over to promoting its app for buying anything and everything available on its portal. Taking example of India, its ecommerce market is slated to touch US$ 300b by 2030, according to a recent report by a global bank. If consumers go to native apps of ecommerce players for searching and shopping, it could become a huge opportunity lost for Google if consumers bypass its services. All the AdWords and other features won't do much good to Google if people don't really go to its site for their shopping needs. And this is why, Google is planning to incorporate the Buy feature in its search results. They already have put some aspects of this feature while searching for flights in India (on google.co.in). Currently, if you search for a flight on Google India, it will give you details of the prices and timings and button for booking the flight. Clicking on the button takes you to the site of the airline, with another option to look for other prices on Goibibo (only aggregator listed as of now). So, although payments and other options have not been provided currently by Google, but they sure are going to focus on this now. With mobile wallets slowly picking up (courtesy PayTm, MobiKwik, Airtel Money etc), Google Wallets won't have to work too hard for customer acquisition, when you can use the wallet for any purchase across categories. Ecommerce players like Flipkart, Amazon will be wise to see this happening sooner rather than later. They can buy slots on Google search pages for their products, with consumers getting all different options to buy a product of his choice without having to download a lot of apps. Also, the recent Google I/O conference talked about how the company is planning to use its biggest weapon in its arsenal, Android, by allowing the OS to read the user data from all the apps installed on a phone and tailoring the search accordingly. Google is increasing the bar and defending its territory, for sure.
2. Twitter: Any company which is focused on serving its customers has taken the twitter route. This platform has helped them be in touch with their customers to solve their concerns, launch new products, launch new campaigns and do just about anything. How about enabling the companies to sell on Twitter as well? Twitter did come up with a plan to introduce a Buy button in US last year, it hasn't seen much traction there, or any other markets globally. Imagine buying stuffs directly from tweets, with just a few clicks. An artist just launched a new song and the music company has tweeted about it. Along with the RT and Favorite buttons, there is a Buy button as well alongside the tweet, from where you can legally buy the new song without the need of an iTunes or other such service. Or think about buying the newly launched book for your Kindle, without leaving the Twitter interface. Extend the idea to any product you see these days. This service will be a pure-play marketplace as Twitter is not going to hold inventories and sellers can sell any item they wish. Combine this with customized offers through the 'big data' which gets generated on Twitter, brands and companies can target their customers with pinpoint accuracy. Some months back, ICICI Bank, India's largest private sector bank, introduced transfer of funds through the use of tweets and DMs. With Indian ecommerce growing at the pace as it is currently, a lot can be done in products and services through Twitter. As such, the potential of Twitter is immense for a market like India, which has one of the fastest growing user base who tweet day in and day out.
3. Pinterest: User-generated and curated content has been garnering quite a lot of talk lately, with some startups in the 'Silicon Valleys' of US and India already grabbing VCs' attention and (more importantly) money. Although this is still at a nascent stage for India, Pinterest is not for brands. A lot of brands have very active accounts on this website (a prominent example being Myntra). Pinterest, however, is monetizing now. It has begun testing and piloting 'Buyable Pins' in US, where customers can buy an item while just browsing pics. The logistics is handled by the sellers themselves and (currently) payments are handled through PayPal and other leading services in the US. Pinterest is still to gain a lot of traction in India, but going by the trend of other platforms, a focused approach towards India can make it one of the fastest growing and leading markets for any platform (prominent examples being LinkedIn, Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter and more recently, Amazon). Pinterest through its Buy buttons (or pins) in the Indian market can aim for the disruption that it might be seeking. Indians, most often, don't really shop when they have to. For apparels, people keep browsing (window-shopping, a few years back) and buy a dress when something suits the eye. This nicely mimics how people interact on Pinterest as well (apart from the buying part). They browse through images and post or pin the ones they like. Pinterest can ideally up the game a little bit by adding that 'buy' button next to the 'pin' button.
In one of my earlier posts (read here), I had talked about how the app-only strategy is here to stay and why Myntra's latest move deserves appreciation. I still believe most of the other players will try going this route sooner rather than later, as it can result in customer stickiness. However, the 3 platforms explained above, can be the shot in the arm that the (current) offline players need. A Bharti Retail or a Future Group might get more interested in selling through Google or Twitter than an Amazon or a Myntra. This will give them a lot of traction right at the beginning of their game, and not worry a lot about customer acquisition and discounts.
The ecommerce game has only begun for India and other countries, and a lot of new chapters are yet to conceptualized and written. Sit back and witness the changes and uncertainties. One thing which is certain, however, is that the end-customer will be the final winner.
Comment your thoughts below or on twitter @NishantSinha88.
1. Google: Google recently initiated talks of featuring a 'buy' button in its search results, thus enabling a customer to buy from the search page directly. Google's most important service to the world has been its ability to organize the world's knowledge and the company makes big bucks through advertisements on its search page and AdWords. But, this side of the business could very well be witnessing its biggest competition so far, shopping apps.
Nearly, every company has moved over to promoting its app for buying anything and everything available on its portal. Taking example of India, its ecommerce market is slated to touch US$ 300b by 2030, according to a recent report by a global bank. If consumers go to native apps of ecommerce players for searching and shopping, it could become a huge opportunity lost for Google if consumers bypass its services. All the AdWords and other features won't do much good to Google if people don't really go to its site for their shopping needs. And this is why, Google is planning to incorporate the Buy feature in its search results. They already have put some aspects of this feature while searching for flights in India (on google.co.in). Currently, if you search for a flight on Google India, it will give you details of the prices and timings and button for booking the flight. Clicking on the button takes you to the site of the airline, with another option to look for other prices on Goibibo (only aggregator listed as of now). So, although payments and other options have not been provided currently by Google, but they sure are going to focus on this now. With mobile wallets slowly picking up (courtesy PayTm, MobiKwik, Airtel Money etc), Google Wallets won't have to work too hard for customer acquisition, when you can use the wallet for any purchase across categories. Ecommerce players like Flipkart, Amazon will be wise to see this happening sooner rather than later. They can buy slots on Google search pages for their products, with consumers getting all different options to buy a product of his choice without having to download a lot of apps. Also, the recent Google I/O conference talked about how the company is planning to use its biggest weapon in its arsenal, Android, by allowing the OS to read the user data from all the apps installed on a phone and tailoring the search accordingly. Google is increasing the bar and defending its territory, for sure.
2. Twitter: Any company which is focused on serving its customers has taken the twitter route. This platform has helped them be in touch with their customers to solve their concerns, launch new products, launch new campaigns and do just about anything. How about enabling the companies to sell on Twitter as well? Twitter did come up with a plan to introduce a Buy button in US last year, it hasn't seen much traction there, or any other markets globally. Imagine buying stuffs directly from tweets, with just a few clicks. An artist just launched a new song and the music company has tweeted about it. Along with the RT and Favorite buttons, there is a Buy button as well alongside the tweet, from where you can legally buy the new song without the need of an iTunes or other such service. Or think about buying the newly launched book for your Kindle, without leaving the Twitter interface. Extend the idea to any product you see these days. This service will be a pure-play marketplace as Twitter is not going to hold inventories and sellers can sell any item they wish. Combine this with customized offers through the 'big data' which gets generated on Twitter, brands and companies can target their customers with pinpoint accuracy. Some months back, ICICI Bank, India's largest private sector bank, introduced transfer of funds through the use of tweets and DMs. With Indian ecommerce growing at the pace as it is currently, a lot can be done in products and services through Twitter. As such, the potential of Twitter is immense for a market like India, which has one of the fastest growing user base who tweet day in and day out.
Comment your thoughts below or on twitter @NishantSinha88.
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