Comment by senthilnayagam | Hacker News Reader

Comment by senthilnayagam | Hacker News Reader

I agree with Vijay .

Read other comments, some don't understand the Indian context.

Indias biggest ecommerce site is operated by federal government owned , IRCTC, they sell train tickets which is the most popular form of long distance travel. you can hear lot of horror stories at https://twitter.com/search?q=irctc&src=typd

Then indian financial and banking regulator RBI, they limit online payment in every possible way

a) every online credit card payment needs multi factor authentication.

b) no recurring payments.

c) getting merchant account for online services is a long tedious process.

d) TDR as high as 7%.

now add the problem with logistics due to bad infrastructure.

add the news of people getting arrested for posting liking on online sites http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20576416

culturally Indians feel guilty for exuberance, so they would go for value for money propositions and take safer options.

you have people who go to stores and buy mostly in cash

now you have the context,now you can read the article again, it would make lot more sense

disclosures: I am friend of Vijay, I have been mentor at couple of in50hrs events along with fellow Chennai tech entrepreneur

IRCTC is still the biggest ecom site despite their UX and UI and all that; it simply solves a problem people want solved more than all the other stuff. India's ecom isn't about the fluff and the sub-millisecond response time; it's just about doing something right, and the success stories like Naukri or IRCTC or whatever have gone that route.

RBI isn't limiting stuff for no reason - multi factor makes Indian CC sites a much better alternative than abroad, honestly, where you can get overbilled and then have to go to court/claim etc.

Merchant account and TDRs are negotiable, anything above Rs. 100,000 a month ($2,000) can get you below 3%.

Logistics aren't such a bad deal - have worked with vendors who now have great options and assurances for ecommerce players.

Indians feel guilty for exuberance? I disagree. Having lived in Delhi and Mumbai and Bangalore, I see no end of ostentatiousness (if there is such a word).

The arrest on posting online is being addressed, and the law is ill-thought-out and if we put heads together, we can change things.

People pay in cash: so what. They will buy online if you give them stuff cheaper. If ECom sites stupidly decide to charge near-market rates, and they will die. It's cheap (in price) that works, and if you are that, they will pay you in whatever way you want -- cheque, cash, card etc. (See IRCTC: they don't take cash online, they don't do CoD, yet...)

Vijay's article has the correct tone that we should focus more on customers than investors. However, you need money to make money, sometimes the customer who wants you is a customer you just can't reach, because you don't have the money to show him your wares. And thinking "big" is now possible because there is money available for the investment, instead of waiting for organic growth.

>>a) every online credit card payment needs multi factor authentication.

I am not sure you stated this as a seller, customer or as a payment-gateway guy; but I, myself, as a customer find this feature to be one of the best things to have happened to Indian banking scene and I feel (and am) many times more secure having this feature around.

>>culturally Indians feel guilty for exuberance, so they would go for value for money propositions and take safer options.

Do you mean the lack of a population that braves the fire, ice, rain and storm to line-up for next iDevice release, not because it's the best (at the best price), but because it's costliest and does exactly the same things many other half-the-price mobile devices do too? And because everyone else with more than enough money is buying it because GrubIegler wrote volumes in reviews mostly comprising - "it's just the right size" and "just the right balance"?

>>you have people who go to stores and buy mostly in cash

I have lazily switched to ordering groceries from on-line grocery sites in Bangalore. There's a friend of mine who earns almost 1.5+ of my earnings and visits a nearby store to buy one 1L milk tetra pack (among many other things) which costs him around INR 35-40 there and INR 50-55 elsewhere (55 online). No, it's not a duplicate/fake product. And I appreciate this so much. This is called intelligence. Smart decision. Simple.

>>now you have the context,now you can read the article again, it would make lot more sense

I will sure read it again and share my feedback here, iff it made more sense or very much different from what it actually does.

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