Designers and retailers are opting for the “e” route to sell their wares. It saves on the high real-estate and operational costs of brick-and-mortar stores. Joining ranks with successful shopping portals such as www.flipkart.com, www.juvalia.in and www.perniaspopupshop.com is 10-month old www.jabong.com which stocks over 700 brands such as Ray-Ban, Calvin Klein, Nike, Clarks and Carlton London. Manu Kumar Jain, the website’s co-founder, unveiled a collection of VS-319 bats earlier this week, commemorating Virender Sehwag’s score of 319 runs against South Africa in 2008 — which will be sold exclusively through Jabong. Priyanka Sharma talks to him about what makes a customer click and why e-tailing is getting big in India
Why would a customer visit an online shopping portal instead of an offline one?
Every customer wants to browse through and purchase lifestyle brands, but not everyone has access to high-end malls. ‘E-tailing’ gives customers that opportunity without stepping out of their offices or homes. Moreover, customers can compare brands, colours and products with an easy click. Also, online shopping saves time and fuel!
Who is your target customer?
Anyone who is lifestyle and fashion-conscious. When we started operations, most of our revenues came from metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. But in the last few months, we have seen a huge traffic from tier-II cities which now form a significant part of our revenue, mostly because they don’t have access to big brands. In fact, I came to know about a customer from Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh who wanted a specific brand, size, style and colour of a shirt — simply because he had seen a sportsman wearing it. He had the purchasing power and exposure to the brand. But to buy it, he had to travel for hours to get to the nearest retail outlet. And so he logged on to Jabong.
Have you tracked the web traffic on Jabong? How much of this translates into actual transactions?
I can’t divulge sales figures but as per the latest Com-Score report of September 2012, Jabong has recorded the second-highest web traffic (and the highest in the lifestyle domain) amongst all Indian e-commerce companies. The first, naturally, was Flipkart. But we [Jabong] were very close. Among all our items, shoes and apparel sell the most.
How do you track customer satisfaction and feedback?
During preliminary research, we found out that the one thing customers were most weary of was the long waiting period to receive their merchandise. They simply lost interest. So, we promise timely delivery across the country through our in-house shipping system. For instance, if you place an order at noon from Delhi, we will deliver it the same day. For other cities, it might take a little under 48 hours as long as you order before six in the evening. To gauge customer satisfaction, we conduct surveys regularly and have set up a team to analyse the results. At times, we call customers randomly to ask about their experience or conduct in-depth interviews with some. If need be, we also outsource the work to a market research agency.
For an online portal, visual presentation is key. How do you ensure the brands who collaborate with you are kept happy?
We provide seven different shots of each products — zoomed in and out, with and without a model — to help the customer make the right choice.
Is e-commerce the way forward for designers and retailers alike?
I hope so, else I am in the wrong place! [Laughs]. Online shopping has become a new fad among the masses because of benefits such as safe transactions, flexible payment options such as cash on delivery, return policy and attractive offers during festive season.