Tag Archives: India

IndiaTimes and HomeShop18 heading to be leaders in Online Book Retail

IndiaTimes and HomeShop18 heading to be leaders in Online Book Retail

To match HomeShop18’s lowest Book Prices, IndiaTimes Shopping, the online retail portal of the Times of India Group, is now offering Books at an Additional Discount of 30%.

With HomeShop18 and IndiaTimes offering Books at real low prices, the best time to buy Books seems to be now.

Buyers of Books from expensive online book retailers like Flipkart will regret their purchases and shall be happy to move on to HomeShop18 and IndiaTimes Shopping.

Both HomeShop18 and IndiaTimes Shopping are offering Books across all categories at much lower prices, with excellent packaging and prompt delivery as compared to the online retailer Flipkart. Read more about Flipkart’s higher prices of books in my post: Homeshop18 beating Flipkart at its own game

The Discount Offer from IndiaTimes is aptly titled “Sabse Sasta Book Challenge”.  The details of the Discount Offer can be obtained from this link.

On check-out, use Coupon Code BOOKS to avail the Additional Discount on Books. The Discount is valid on purchases above Rs.237/-. The offer is valid from 30 May 2012 to 1 June 2012.

The Link for the Books Section on the IndiaTimes portal is: http://shopping.indiatimes.com/control/keywordsearch?SEARCH_STRING=books

HomeShop18 is also offering an Additional Discount of 20% on their already lowest prices for Books in the market. On check-out, use Gift Voucher Code GC84KPBU413E to avail the Additional Discount on Books. The Discount is valid on purchases of Rs.500/- or higher. For further details about the Discount Offer from HomeShop18, please read my post: Save up to 20 percent extra on your purchases from Homeshop18

Please note that HomeShop18’s prices for Books, even without any Discount Coupons are already the lowest on the market.

To get the Best Value for your Money, before making your purchase, compare the prices of Books on the websites Homeshop18, IndiaTimes Shopping, Flipkart and on the price comparison website, Junglee.

Its Official Now… LetsBuy.com bites the dust

With many online retailers shutting shop between 2010-2012, the casualties of online retail businesses have started appearing in the public domain.

Recently, the online electronics retailer, Letsbuy.com has shut shop and sold its business to another online retailer, Flipkart. Flipkart had announced about the acquisition of Letsbuy.com earlier this year.

I believe no one shall miss the absence of Letsbuy.com due to its limited variety, high product pricing and poor customer service.

LetsBuy customers should hope that the products that they ordered shall  get delivered promptly and the ones which they have already received do not need any customer service from the erstwhile LetsBuy.com or its current owner, Flipkart.

Upon visiting the website of Letsbuy.com, the following closure and merger message is displayed:

LetsBuy.Com Site Closure Message

(Click on Image for Enlarged View)

12 years ago, in India, online retail and other businesses were projected by the techie community, as the next killer idea, the next big thing and were pitched as replacements to old and conventional brick-and-mortar businesses. These gave genuine reasons of concern to many businesses of all sizes.

However, many factors such as :

  • the lack of availability of high speed internet access,
  • the lack of availability of easy-to-setup and affordable e-commerce platforms,
  • the lack of availability of reasonably priced and secure payment gateways,
  • the lack of good supply chain management systems and
  • the lack of skilled workforce with domain expertise in areas such as purchases, warehousing, logistics, operations, accounting, taxation,  sales, customer service, etc.

coupled with:

  • the reluctance of the prospective consumers to buy products online, without seeing, touching, feeling and trying them before purchase,
  • unreasonably high prices of certain products (by certain Sellers with the disbelief that consumers are fools),
  • nominal usage of Debit Cards, Credit Cards and NetBanking facilities by the Indian consumers,
  • lack of effective Cash-on-Delivery systems,
  • very high return rates on Cash-on-Delivery transactions and
  • customers concerns about post purchase services, etc.

did not let those killer ideas and elevator pitches to translate into successful businesses.

A few survivors from that time are the erstwhile Bazee.com (now Ebay India), Rediff.com and IndiaTimes Shopping.

Just like any other conventional business, to become successful, an ‘online retail business’ has to be sustainable as well as profitable. An online retail business must be built with high standards of excellence and with a goal of building long term customer relationships.

Unfortunately, instead of building long term and lasting relationships with their customers, most online retail businesses these days, try to acquire more customers in a short span of time, by focusing only upon short term transaction based associations.

A customer may not like his neighborhood Retail Store, its products, its prices, the professional conduct and customer service. However, due to the limited number of choices available with him in his neighborhood, he may be constrained to buy from the same retail store.

This is not the case while making online purchases. In just a few clicks, the customer can effortlessly shift from one online retailer to another. The originally disappointing brick-and-mortar retailer is at the risk of losing a customer and other prospective buyers around his center of influence for life, in just a few minutes

These days, a new online retailer is appearing on the horizon every day. For most products and categories, the number of online retailers is increasing every day. Any decline in customer service and other commitments by an online retailer can result in the loss of a valuable customer and other prospective buyers around his center of influence for life, in just a few minutes.

Many online retailers have received large amounts of Capital from Domestic as well as Foreign Private Equity Investors. Many of these online retailers have adopted business strategies, which are neither sustainable nor profitable. With transaction based associations, dwindling consumer loyalties, they are at high risk of ending up like LetsBuy.com.

Let’s hope Flipkart does not flip its own kart with its new acquisition and its current non-customer friendly policies and strategies.

You may also like: Homeshop18 beating Flipkart at its own game

Save up to 20 percent extra on your purchases from Homeshop18

SAVE UP TO 20 PERCENT EXTRA ON YOUR PURCHASES FROM HOMESHOP18

This is a Money Saving Bonanza for Book Lovers.

India’s leading On-line and On-Air Retailer, Homeshop18 is offering Books at Lowest Prices on the market vis-a-vis its online competitors like Flipkart, Uread, BookAdda, IndiaPlaza, Infibeam, Ebay, IndiaTimes Shopping, etc.

Now you can save up to 20% extra on your purchase of Books, on the already Lowest Prices of Books being offered by Homeshop18.

Select Books worth Rs.500/- from http://homeshop18.com . When you are checking-out for payment, use Gift Voucher Code GC84KPBU413E and get a Discount of 20% i.e. Rs.100/- on your purchase. This Code is valid up to 31 May 2012.

If you are buying Books for more than Rs.500/-, you will get a Discount of Rs. 100/-. I suggest you split your orders in multiples of approx. Rs.500/- and get a Discount of Rs.100/- on every purchase.

You may also like: Homeshop18 beating Flipkart at its own game

Note for Readers: Other than being a Customer, I, my family members or talkabouttech.com are NOT associated/ affiliated with any online or on-air Book Retailer. This post has been written only for the benefit of Consumers at large.

Samsung Galaxy S3 available for pre-order in India from Samsung eStore

Samsung Galaxy S3 available for pre-order in India from Samsung eStore

Samsung India has started pre-booking orders for its much-awaited gizmo the ‘Samsung Galaxy S3’ via its online eStore. People interested to pre-order the phone can pay Rs.2000 as the booking amount, with an opportunity to get an assured gift as well. The Galaxy S3 has been the talk of town since MWC 2012 and was originally launched this month as a part of the ‘Samsung Unpacked’ event that was held in London. The smartphone would be released across Europe and 10 other regions including Delhi (India) starting 29 May 2012.

Book the Samsung Galaxy S3  : Samsung India eStore

Also Read : The Samsung Galaxy S3 is finally unpacked !

Quick Specs for the Samsung Galaxy S3:

  • Android ICS 4.04 (Ice Cream Sandwich) with TouchWiz UI 4.0
  • 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD Display (720×1280 pixels)
  • 1.4 GHZ Samsung Exynos Quad-Core CPU
  • 1GB RAM
  • 16GB/32GB/64GB internal storage
  • Support for Micro SD cards up to 64GB
  • 8MP Auto Focus camera with LED (supports Full HD Video at 1080p @ 30 FPS)
  • 1.9MP front camera (supports HD Video at 720p @ 30 FPS)
  • Productivity features like S Voice, Social Tag, Direct Call and more
  • Connectivity via Bluetooth v4, NFC, Micro-USB, Wi-Fi, DLNA, 3G, Wi-Fi Direct and GPS
  • 2100 mAh battery
  • Weight / Dimensions: 133g / 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm