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W i n t e r P r o j e c t 2014 Project Report On Baby Care Business in Indian Ecommerce Space Area of Project Research- (Retail E-commerce) Faculty Guide: Prof. Murali Mohan By Nejo Samuel Varghese Post Graduation Diploma in Management 1 | Page Nejo Samuel Varghese
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Baby Care Business in Indian Ecommerce Space

Aug 23, 2014

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Page 1: Baby Care Business in Indian Ecommerce Space

W i n t e r P r o j e c t 2014

Project Report On Baby Care Business in Indian Ecommerce Space

Area of Project Research- (Retail E-commerce)

Faculty Guide: Prof. Murali Mohan

ByNejo Samuel Varghese

Post Graduation Diploma in ManagementPGDM EBusiness (2012-2014)

Specialization: Operations

Welingkar Institute of Management Development &Research, Bangalore

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT1 | P a g e N e j o S a m u e l V a r g h e s e

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It gives me immense pleasure on presenting my project report entitled, “Baby Care Business in Indian Ecommerce Space”

I express my deep sense of gratitude to Prof. Murali Mohan, Welingkar Institute of Management, Bangalore my project mentor.

During the course of this study, many useful suggestions and constructive criticism came across which really helped me a lot in giving this project a professional look. I am indeed very thankful to him for giving me an opportunity to work on this project.

I am sure the immense learning that I have had from this project would help me stand in good stead in the future.

I extend my heartiest thanks to all those persons whose willing cooperation led to the timely completion of the project. Also I would like to thank all those who have helped me directly or indirectly in completing the project.

In completing this study, I did my level best correcting my shortcomings to possible extent and I sincerely hope that this report will serve its purpose.

CONTENTS

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1. Indian Ecommerce1.1 Introduction1.2 Factors that drive e-commerce ventures towards success 1.3 Technology related challenges faced by e-tailers and ways to overcome these1.4 Essential technologies that is important for an online player to succeed & scale-up1.5 Technology Trends in Ecommerce Industry

1.5.1 Electronic Fund Transfers1.5.2 Internet Marketing1.5.3 Cloud Based Model1.5.4 Mobile Application1.5.5 Reverse Logistics Management1.5.6 Payment Process

1.6 Key factors impacting Ecommerce industry 2. Indian Baby Industry Ecommerce

2.1 Overview 2.2 Why the baby industry in India a buzz?2.3 PE/VC Funding2.4 Opportunities and Growth 2.5 Potential of the Baby Industry and identifying the potential customers to target2.6 Challenges for Baby segment in Indian Ecommerce and ways to overcome 2.7 Differentiating factors of HushBabies Ecommerce website 2.8 Benefits for customers from Baby product e-tailers2.9 Customer Perspective while buying a stroller online. – Survey2.10 Study of Online BabyShop Website (BabyOye.com)

2.10.1 Overview2.10.2 Objective of Babyeoye.com2.10.3 Tools and Techniques adopted by BabyeOye site2.10.4 Benefits seen by BabyOye

2.11 Competitor Analysis (FirstCry vs BabyOye)2.11.1 Search2.11.2 Filtering and Product Selection2.11.3 Buy Options

2.12 Success factors of an Online Baby Product selling website2.13 Product categories of FirstCry Online store2.14 SWOT Analysis of Baby store E-tailer’s2.15 Strategies to be incorporated in brick-and-mortar stores to increase customer

. satisfaction

Indian Ecommerce – Introduction

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The outlook for India’s economy may be gloomy for now, but the sector looks set to boom is Online Retail.

As more and more Indians use the internet, revenues of e-commerce companies could triple over the next three years to 504 billion rupees ($8.13 billion), according to Crisil Research. There are around 200 million internet users in India currently and the number could grow to 500 million by 2015, according to consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

Over the last few years, dozens of websites have been launched in India to sell everything from books and appliances, to baby care products and flight tickets. Online retail companies earned revenues of around 139 billion rupees ($2.24 billion) in the financial year that ended on March 31, 2013, according to the Crisil report. Though this is just 0.5% of the total revenues of brick-and-mortar retail companies, online retail sales have been growing much faster. Revenue of e-commerce firms grew by 56% annually between the financial year that ended March 31, 2008, and the year ended March 31, 2013.

The scope for growth in this sector has already attracted a lot of interest from venture capital investors.

As seen in the figure, a lot of private equity and venture capitalist investors are investing in major e-taling industries of the country as they see a huge potential in the growth of these online industries. The total investments by PE/VC investors nearly doubled in 2013 compared to 2012.

Factors that drive e-commerce ventures towards success

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The look and feel of the ecommerce site should be apt according to the product offered, to attract and retain customers.

Should have a Technology-driven business approach. Having a small & agile team with stress on automation to reduce costs. Having a low cost and highly scalable marketplace model. Doing constant review & improvement of the business processes. Having a variety of products and also having several products that are hard to find elsewhere. Giving users multiple payment options and also offering seasonal discounts on the products to

regulate the traffic in the sites.

Technology related challenges faced by e-tailers

Lack of broadband infrastructure in the country, especially in rural areas results in low internet penetration, followed by low level of awareness about e-commerce.

As there are a Growing number of social media platforms to connect with users (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+,etc). It is extremely important for the etailers to keep a track on these social platforms on a continuous basis and address their customers.

Understanding the user across multiple screens. (mobile, PC, tablet, smart TV, etc. are simultaneously used by the same user)

Very less growth of small-and-medium businesses (SMB) in adopting the internet/mobile medium to get customers.

Etailers find it difficult to popularize the plastic cards usage on the ecommerce sites, as people are so sceptical when it comes to using the cards for payments.

Offering Cash on Delivery (COD) results in operational issues such as returns management and complexity of payment handling. Cash-on-delivery makes it difficult for sellers to survive because there is no customer commitment for the ordered products.

Ways to overcome these challenges

• Providing a consistent and uniform user interface across all platforms/channels. • Deeper understanding of user needs across the multiple products and services offered by the

e-tailer.• Greater investment in acquiring and retaining SMB customers and simplifying the

internet/mobile environment and reaching customers through calls/emails/social media and not through just clicks advertisements, as given by search engines.

Boost internet infrastructure, particularly in tier II and tier III cities. This boost in the broadband infrastructure in the country will enable Indian SMEs from all corners of the country to be competitive in the international marketplace.

Educating SMEs about e-commerce in India, by partnering with several prominent industry bodies like FICCI and FIEO, by conducting training workshops across India.

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Making the online payment experience as simple as possible by constantly innovating, slimming down the processes and thus reducing the level of complexity.

Making the in-house systems of ecommerce website scalable to match up to the growing demand of the customers.

Having a distributed database to deliver the web contents fast, irrespective of the number of products catered and the speed of the broadband connection.

More focus on Mobile Applications. Use of SAP for integration of daily payment cycles.

Essential technologies that is important for an online player to succeed & scale-up

• Effective usage of CRM, Big Data and Social media to understand consumers better• There should be seamless user experience across multiple devices .Use of Technologies to

deliver these. • Enforcement of sales force automation and customer understanding modules. • To get new consumers and to retain old customers, use of Search and social media mastery

are helpful.• Cloud-based technologies to provide significant savings on physical hardware/software

investments.• Internal employee networking to have a seamless flow of communication throughout the

organization. • Inter-office video calling to bring employees across diverse offices together.• Having customized tools and also Google Analytics helps to serve the customers better. • Having a strong database• Usage of frameworks, such as Magento and web servers such as Apache for the website.• Inventory management and Dispatch management integration using ERP systems.• Payments, accounting and finance tools

Technology Trends in Ecommerce Industry 1. Electronic Fund Transfers:

The payment gateways are the backbone for transactions as there has always been a demand of more secure, less dependent systems that smoothens the process of

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paying for what the customers buy instantly. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) is changing the landscape of money transaction from the bank account to the business entity. Customers, who make purchases on a business’ website, can choose to have the purchase price taken from their bank account as opposed to a credit or debit card. Once the EFT process has been started on the business’ website, the funds will be taken from the customer’s bank account a few days later. There have been advancements in Online Transaction Processing, where capital firms are giving online merchants an advance on future credit orders, which allows the business of e-commerce to operate smoothly.

2. Internet marketing:

Internet marketing has expanded to include technologies involving search engine mechanisms. Pay-per click advertising and banner ads are examined for their rates of efficiency. Automated Data Collection systems are another important arm of the e-commerce technology area, which allows etailers to gather information about prospective and current customers. This information allows online businesses to figure out the buying, browsing and online search habits of customers, which businesses then use to tailor targeted advertising to prospective consumers.

3. Cloud Based Model:

In the past if an etailer needed to set up its infrastructure, they would need to approach a technology based company by paying a certain amount upfront to set up an infrastructure and the applications needed to connect to the outside world. Today it’s about converting Capex (Capital Expense) to Opex (Operating Expense). The best way to scale up any ecommerce business is by using a cloud-based model, as the etailer needn’t have to make any capital-intensive investments, for setting up the infrastructure needed for the up-scaled business operations, as the payment is done as per the usage of the applications and the number of users accessing the application.

Adoption of Cloud based model revolves largely around the type of business dealt with and the depth of which the business deals with its customers and vendors. So it is essential to categorize the business into external and internal side, in order to identify the feasible areas where cloud model can be incorporated. Internal side activities include procurement process, people management, recruitment process, financials / human capital management / talent management, sales force automation, social, analytics etc. CRM, customer experience applications, etc. come on the external side activities. A feasibility analysis should be conducted to check which of these activities can be moved towards the cloud based model based on the efficiency, cost cutting factors and capability index of new cloud model.

4. Mobile Application:

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The web space is already filled up with so many deals, offers and websites. A smaller e-commerce venture doesn’t even stand a chance to be listed on the first page of the search results. In the next two years the mobile Internet users are expected to grow more than PC Internet users, so it’s important for these e-commerce companies to have their presence on mobile phones.

Benefits:

Mobile applications leverage the opportunity for an etailer to be there with the consumer all day long. Once the app has been downloaded it will appear on the screen of the customer whenever they are using their Smartphone.

Results in repeat business more easily. Increases awareness among the customers of the etailers site and the products sold Customer will prefer to shop from the mobile app etailers rather than go to any other

website One-stop solution for sales as well as services Boosts the website brand on the highly visited Apple and Google Play stores along

with increased visibility over the Internet Mobile app can serve as a better medium for data analytics than websites, which can

help etailers to target specific audiences in an easier and in a more sure shot way

To secure cash in the mobile wallet in case of theft of the customer’s device, multiple levels of authentication are done which include

• SIM card’s unique identification • Telephone (mobile) number• Handset’s unique identification • User-defined PIN

5. Reverse Logistics Management:

Reverse ecommerce logistics deals with getting the goods back from the customers, which involves taking a customer’s unwanted or damaged product and finding alternative channels for profit which otherwise be considered as a wasted or useless item. Having a sound reverse logistics plan in place seems no more a luxury but a compelling need for e-commerce businesses in India, to ensure repeat purchases and word-of-mouth promotion to lure new customers. This can be done by providing 30 days to as high as 100 days return policies. These return policies offered by etailers influence the decision of customers to shop with an e-tailer with confidence.

Reverse logistics strategy is a mode to decrease cost, increase customer satisfaction and enhance competitive advantage. The reverse supply chain includes everything from defective, shipment overages, refused goods and end of life products, to reusable assets like pallets and containers seen often in electronic products. These

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goods could be refurbished, resold, recycled, destroyed, exported, or a host of other disposition options. These strategies help companies to save costs and improve their financial performance.

6. Payment Process:

Payment gateway solutions allow a website to accept real-time payments from customers across the world in the most secured way. Optimal payment gateway would use security measures as strong as those used by the banking systems to ensure data security and none of the information can fall in wrong hands. Even in the case of data breaching, the system is so strong that it destroys itself instead of shedding out the personal information of the users.

The success of payment is achieved by a mutual collaboration between the payment partner and the merchant

Pain points in the payment process-

• Consumers abandon shopping carts at multiple stages, due to several reasons, known and unknown

• Consumers seem to lack confidence in online payments in terms of security of the data entered (of cards) and also in success rates and recoveries in case of problems

• Success rate issues at the backend with all Payment Gateway providers is sometimes as high as 40-50%

• Difficulty in managing payments, due to rapid proliferation payment options across multiple devices which include mobile devices, iPads, smartphones, etc

• E-tailers has to tie up with multiple vendors for his payment process, which includes tying up with a payment gateway provider for card payments, collaborations with banks to facilitate net banking, along with the backend team which has to monitor both uptimes as well as the entire settlement and reconciliation process across all the vendors.

• Painful tech integrations and rigorous testing needed if an etailer switches a PG provider due to success rate issues or for better economics.

• KYC documentation, payment gateway fees and other back-end integration work make online payment gateways out of reach to a majority of small-sized merchants.

An Ideal Payment partner’s characteristics-

• Work with the merchant to reduce customer drops and transaction failures. Analyze the entire payment process of merchant and eliminate all points of concern.

• Anticipate market needs and be ready to support the merchant as he expands on to new platforms and geographies.

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• Create products, applications and services that meet the complete need of the merchant.

An Ideal Merchant’s characteristics-

Collaborate openly with the payment partner to build a growth roadmap together. Understanding what should be outsourced and at what price, by conducting internal

ROI analysis. Willingness to experiment with new concepts and solutions so as to motivate

payment companies to innovate and experiment on how to change the market.

Strategies for better conversion rates-

Using one-click checkout mechanism which involves signing up with the payment gateway using identification and password. This saves customers time from entering the card number, billing address and other details every time they shop.

Help SMBs automate and manage their payment acceptance and disbursement needs.

Assist small business site owners and online merchants to tackle PCI DSS compliance by offering hosted templates, which ensures that sensitive cardholder data is stored, transmitted, and processed by the payment gateway and not by the merchant. This allows the merchant to stay focussed on future business growth instead of website

More than 50% of consumers do not come back to retry the transaction in cases of failure during payment process. A premium payment gateway can tell users (merchants and customers) the reasons for the failure of the previous transaction. This results in a greater conversion rate for

online retailers and also enhances the shopping experience of the consumers.

Key Factors Impacting Ecommerce Industry

1. Trustmarks

Trustmarks play an integral part of improving security by identifying online thefts and increasing consumer confidence by assuring them of a secure transaction. Trustmarks generally takes the form of a living icon or logo on the ecommerce website, which proves that the website is legitimate and it abides certain security code or privacy regulations. This helps in establishing trust with customers and allows the customers to shop with confidence.

2. Security

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Ecommerce sites should keep the customers personal information safe away from hackers. Businesses should think beyond traditional security approach and should move towards an advanced protection mechanism like next generation IPS, next generation host level protection and application level protection. By following good defence practices, businesses can offer a safer platform for ecommerce.

3. PCI Compliance

Businesses should follow proper tools to measure and enforce PCI compliance regulations in their framework and services in order to keep online business safe during credit card payments. It is important for businesses to choose an optimal online payment solution which assists the website to deliver the best in terms of security compliance, convenience and ultimately increases the conversion rates.

Overview of the Indian Baby Industry Ecommerce

Indian online retail space has witnessed launch of business models across diverse niche categories such as stationery/school supplies, grocery, motor parts and baby products.

Why Baby Product Industry in India a Buzz?

Around 27 million babies are born every year in India. Considering that even 10 percent of babies are born to parents who would spend annually a conservative figure of INR. 5000 on baby products (diapers, lotions, strollers, toys, gears etc), the potential is huge. Most of the parents look for best in class and trusted brands of baby products which aren’t readily available in physical stores in India, especially in tier 2 & 3 cities.

The market size for baby products in India is estimated around INR 15-25 billion. Out of this, the estimated online market for baby product hovers around INR 100-120 crore range and it tends to double in every 6 to 8 months.

The baby product segment was started with the entry of Firstcry and Babyoye in the Indian Etail space and later on, segment witnessed rollout of Hoopos and Hushbabies including big etailers such as Homeshop18, Snapdeal and recently Flipkart selling baby-care products.

PE/VC (Private Equity and Venture Capitalist) Funding

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E-commerce has the potential to be a huge industry in India across segments including baby care, which has attracted entrepreneurs from all walks of life.

Firstcry based out of Pune received a financial backing of $4 million from SAIF partners earlier this year while

Delhi-based venture Babyoye was recently funded by Accel Partners and Tiger Global for $2.5 million.

Hoopos this year offers 6,000 products including diapers, bath and skincare and health and safety products for kids while

Hushbabies, Kidloo and Balgopal are the other recent entrants in the industry. Snapdeal has assortment of 2,000 products in its baby care category. Snapdeal is planning to

increase it by 3x in next two months.

Opportunities and Growth

Homeshop18 research -“20 per cent of the people who shopped for baby products chose the online route in the growing Indian e-commerce market”. This category will grow further as online shopping becomes the preferred medium to purchase owing to

More variety products which is available for sale online Home delivery options Multiple payment options that e-commerce company’s offer. Parents are quite price insensitive and are ready to spent to get the best for their child

Potential of the Baby Product Industry and identifying the potential customers to target

Baby-care segment sees higher number of repeat purchases unlike other categories in etail space. Over 50 percent of repeat purchases and importantly 60 percent of overall purchases happen in this niche through women.

The average ticket size of a purchase reported by most of the players has been around INR 1000-1500 in this niche along with 60 percent orders originating from Metro and tier 1 cities, rest from tier 2 & 3 cities.

As far as gross margin is concerned in this niche, etailers usually make 20-30 percent in diapers, skin care and toiletries but in toys, trolleys and other gears it varies from 25 to 45 percent. Apparels seem to earn maximum margin as it fetches 32-55 percent margin.

Challenges for Baby segment in Indian Ecommerce and ways to overcome

The growth e-commerce ventures in China have resulted in a market cluttered with firms selling the same products. With multiple Etailers, there are very few characteristics

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that differentiate these e-commerce ventures from each other, thus attracting and retaining customers will be a challenge. The only way out for e-commerce companies to work on their value proposition is by

Selling products that are different and exclusive or positioning them differently Achieving value additions on services that also help boost sales. Offering attractive elements like maternity calendars and informative content on pregnancy,

ventures can differentiate themselves from their competitors.

Differentiating factors of Hush babies Baby Shop in India for sustainability

Main focus on post-sales management. Maintaining a quick and transparent delivery system. Customers in metros receive their orders within 48 hours of ordering it online. Promotional activates like offering discounts on brands. Customer acquisition in long run by publishing content that helps a mother buy the right

products for her and her baby. Retaining customers by efficient delivery mechanism and a healthy return policy.

Benefits for customers from Baby product e-tailers

Buying baby care products was never this easy End users now have the convenient option of buying baby essentials from a single online store Greater competition among etailers is likely to reduce prices Increase catalogue-depth helps customers to choose from a wide range of products Service innovation as firms try and differentiate themselves Products are delivered quickly and on time.

Scope for both, the niche segment focusing on baby care vertical and the big/mass etailers catering to multiple categories including baby care – will coexist and grow simultaneously as

market size in online space for baby products seems to be growing fast.

Customer Perspective – Buying a stroller online

- (Survey)

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Objective:

Record customer behaviour which can help merchants gain insights into customer behaviour and prove useful in validating some of the existing and future marketing strategies of what the merchants deploy

Methodology:

Talking to a typical customer (parents) and getting them to write on their online buying experience.

(Written as first person account with minimal editing to preserve the customer inputs)

About Customer-

Name: Mr and Mrs Singha Location: Typical Tier 3 city Looking for: Stroller for a 0-2 yrs. baby Buying for: younger daughter Buying criteria: Reasonable price, Good brand

Customer:

“When my second child started sitting comfortably at the age of 5 months, my husband and I decided to buy a baby stroller. Now, we live in a typical tier 3 city that has fewer options when it comes to shopping as compared to bigger cities. We had faced lots of difficulty in the same purchase 5 years ago with our first child, so we decided to buy online this time”

Researching the Product

“When we goggled “strollers,” the first thing that we noted about the results was interesting; none of the generic shopping sites like Ebay, Junglee, Amazon, etc. were on the first page.

We zeroed in on two sites – Firstcry and Babyoye – for detailed research after skimming through the sites on search page. We also researched eBay and Junglee for strollers in detail to see if there was any difference between sites dedicated to baby products and the general shopping ones.”

Some of the parameters we based our research on were:

Search Results: We wanted to be sure we get very relevant search results.

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Product Details: Full product description including good photographs because we were not comfortable buying online and wanted to be very sure what we would get.

Return Policy: We wanted easy and transparent return policy, because we were not sure whether we will get what we needed.

Differences among the websites

“Most of the options like refining research experience, payment options, checkout page were similar but still there were some differences that impacted our decision-making:”

Search Results: Ebay Search result listed spare parts as well, so it was tiresome glancing through all the pages (almost 250!!) and we never reached the last page.

Search Result Filtering: Only Babyoye filtered based on age, which we found useful. All sites gave us option to filter the products based on the general criterion like brand, price, type, etc.

Registration before purchase: It was necessary to be registered on eBay and Junglee to make a purchase. On the other two, I could proceed to the “Make Payments” page with just a valid email ID.

Cash on Delivery (COD): COD was given on all locations by Firstcry but not Babyoye. Product Recommendations: Firstcry was the only site that had suggestions about other

products that could be bought together with strollers. And they were relevant!!

The Final Purchase

“After much research and soul searching we decided to buy from Babyoye as they were offering the best discount on the brand we had zeroed in.”

Other details of our purchase:

Purchase Criteria: Best discount on selected brand Payment Option: Net banking Delivery Time: 10 days Delivered By: Speed Post facility of Indian Postal Department (This was very interesting!) Overall Experience: Very good, we will buy online again

Study of Online Baby Shop Site

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Overview of BabyOye.com

BabyOye.com is a brand under Nest Childcare Services private Ltd. which is a one stop shop for all mother care and baby care products. It has gained huge popularity just in few months of its operation because of the best possible user experience. The portal was conceived to provide online buying of pregnancy infant-care and mother-care products, to modern Indian parents, with the click of few buttons.

Objective of the ecommerce site

To provide a user-friendly, time saving platform for Indian customers to shop for child care products.

Present relevant product information to users with various search options. Manage inventory with backend multi-warehouse support. Study customer behaviour on site and run promotion accordingly. To generate relevant reports to monitor sales performance. Implementation of effective promotional activities.

Tools and Techniques adopted by BabyOye Site

Content Management Module: for detailing about the product, managing e- product catalogue, inventory management and for customizing the product search options.

User Account Management Module: includes user registration, guest check out options, customer database management system (transactions, PDF invoice, discount history, shipping preference) and coupon management system

Payment Gateway & Order tracking system Integration: integrated with multiple payment gateways, single page checkout process and customized order fulfilment process.

Administrative console: includes various reports generation, validate orders, gift voucher and coupon series management functions.

Promotion Management Module: ability to configure various promotions, generation of bulk coupon codes, setup of affiliate partners, tracking the effectiveness of the promotion.

Social Media: Integration of social media apps with web shop system such as FB Like, Connect, FB Updates on homepage etc.

Benefits seen by BabyOye.com

The look and feel of the portal and the response time needed for the site to load was able to attract enough eyeballs.

Ease of manageability and reporting services. High visibility on social media sites. A cost effective solution with all desired features, functionality and easily customized

backend support for future changes.

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Competitor Analysis – Survey and Primary Research

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A Survey was carried out among 10 people to rate the site’s with respect to the mentioned parameters for analysis for the site, on a scale of 1-5 .Where 5 represents best and 1 represents worst. The survey participants were asked to shop for a feeding bottle and record their experience in the survey form.

The table below shows the average rating given by the survey participants

We see here, the FirstCry has achieved the maximum ratings, followed by MotherCare site which is a UK based site which is almost of similar ratings. BabyOye has received the lowest ratings compared to other sites when it came to FAQ’s, Advertisements, Product experience and Content Design.

Analysis of the Parameters:

1. Search: Ease of searching and finding the desired product on the ecommerce site.

BabyOye.com has options to customize the product search by specifying the child’s age and the gender of child.

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BabyOye has option to refine the search based on various departments and the items available in each department, as seen in fig. These departments contain products similar to the searched product. Filter options are present for Age, Gender, Colour and Excluding out of stock options along with sorting according to Relevant, Popular, Price and Discounts.

When searched for feeding bottle.

The various Feeding bottles are displayed under feeding and nursing department.

Various Bottle sterilizers’ are shown in baby gear department Feeding related books are shown under books category

FirstCry.com has the number of product results at the top of the page along with the various sort options.

Sub category refine search of FirstCry is easier to understand compared to BabyOye but there is an absence of age and gender filtering unlike in BabyOye.com.

2. Filtering and Product Selection

FirstCry

Sub-filtering option is present in BabyOye unlike FirstCry which helps user to select the desired product easily.

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‘Most relevant’ and ‘most popular’ product sorting options of BabOye are duplicate options, which in turn creates confusion in the minds of the shopping customers.

BabyOye

When arranged by low to high price, FirstCry displays bottle & bottle accessories as there is no further filter available unlike BabyOye, where the feeding bottle sub category can be selected.

While selecting Morision Baby Dream 60 ml bottle, description is available for FirstCry on the list page and for BabyOye, the description and add to card option along with link to social media is seen on hovering over the image.

BabyOye FirstCryThe page of BabyOye lists more feeding bottles along with details of the recently

viewed products of the customer, and recommendations of add-ons which other customers shopped along with the feeding bottle. First cry on the other hand has a permalink regarding the brand and the other products offered by the brand.

3. Buy option

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First Cry need a minimum order amount of Rs 149 to place an order, which restricts customers to place their desired orders. Also both the sites provide free shipping only on orders above Rs 500.

FirstCry has more payment options like International Payment Cards, Cheques and Citrus Express Checkout as compared to BabyOye.

FirstCry

Each Site has its own strengths which differentiates itself from the rest of the players in terms of sales and customer satisfaction.

Success Factors of an Online Baby Product Site

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Highly attractiveness with good color schemes along with user friendly and interactive interface.

Secure payment option for payment options along with multiple payment options available for the customers.

Providing adequate information of the products along with customer reviews and recommendations for similar products or frequently purchased together products on the website.

Promotional advertisement should be pleasant to the customers. Frequent spamming of customers with mails will not have a good impact of the ecommerce site and the brands it sells in the mindset of the buyers.

Should have a 24*7 customer service rectifying customer complaints in the least possible time. Providing free shipments for the goods to all the locations and good return policies add

customer delight. Having the latest collection and wide range of baby care products. Proper departmentalization and having an all season sale for a few products of all departments

so as to maintain the traffic of the site. Having a good brand ambassador for promotion of site and having branded products for the

product categories the e-tailer caters to. Have uniqueness in the products selling technique compared to competitors which can

provide value to the customers. Allegiance with social networking site to interact with the customers and generate an interest

in the customer’s minds.

Product Categories of First Cry online Store

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1. Baby Diapers

The Website provides all the major brands for the Baby Diaper category with huge discounts on combo packs as compared to other online and offline stores. Special coupon codes /promos are avail for users, which provide customers up to 50% off on payment with selected debit/credit cards.

2. Feeding and Nursing

Feeding and Nursing category serves all the feeding and nursing needs of mom. Detailed explanation in the site help moms to choose the right product needed to nurse their babies. The category also includes essential baby food products.

3. Footwear

FirstCry Provides a wide range of products of leading brands of the country under the Footwear category. For ease of shopping and for better search results, a quick finder application has been provided, which allows the customer to mention their child’s sex, age and the sub product category of product the customer is searching for.

4. Clothes

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Along with the

quick finder application, another major attraction of this site is the inclusion of new arrivals where customer can get the latest trendy clothes in the market for their kids. Seasonal wear search is a great boon for customers, which enhance their shopping experience.

5. Bath and Skin Care

The bath and skin care category covers the products categories extending from all the bathing accessories which include soaps, baby creams, bathing plastic toys to the safety care accessories and health care accessories needed for babies. Option is provided in the site to enter the age and sex of the baby, which allows the site to filter the product search result according to the inputs.

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6. Toys

Similar to Quick finder, the toys finder application in the toys category help the parents for better search results according to product search needs.

The site also provides attached videos along with the products, which help customers in knowing the products better.

7. Baby Gear and Nursery

This category covers all the products that are needed for a baby in room, which includes bedding, wallpaper stickers and kid’s room décor to cradles and other baby furniture’s.

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8. Mom and Maternity

Along with Baby products it is important to provide maternity wear for the moms conceiving babies. FirstCry provides a one stop shop to satisfy mom’s needs which include garments for daily wear to formal/casual wear. The category also supplements with cosmetics and nutritious food for new moms.

9. Birthday and Gifts

FirstCry targets customers who want to gift their near and dear kids at the birthdays. The website also targets parents to buy birthday accessories while celebrating their kid’s b’day. FirstCry also provides Gift vouchers which can be redeemed on the FirstCry website.

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10. Books, Cd’s & School Supplies

This category contains all the essential products for growing babies and kids, right from story and puzzle books to School supplies. Inclusion of parenting book for parents is another attraction.

11. Super Saver’s

This section covers all the promotions and offers running in the site. Customers get an opportunity to great deals on their favourite brands when they shop. Daily and hourly deals across products make FirstCRY site customer favourite.

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Swot Analysis of Online Baby Shop

Strengths:

Baby Shop Products has one of the highest profit margins in any retail segment in India. The Online Business is really easy to start up because it is easy for owners to manage and

control the business. Online business has a clear and oriented target market. Having Good brand names in website mean that e-tailers site has good brand reputation and

good quality. Therefore, customers can do impulsive purchases. Detailed information of the products offers much convenience and good service for customers.

Weakness:

95 per cent of products are imported. Other than a few players like Johnson & Johnson and some local players, no one else is manufacturing in India. So bringing efficiency in the supply chain is going to be a big focus area.

Look and feel of the product is missing in online stores. Keep updated on the price of the product in online competitive market is essential to sustain

customers. Shipping fees related to shipment of the product is an unavoidable transportation cost which is

to be borne by the customer.

Opportunities:

The entire baby care segment market opportunity in India, mostly offline and the rest online is around $7 billion.

It is easy to enter the global market for selling of products. Offline store strategy can be done along with online store done to create brand familiarisation.

There are many customers who are first time parents or even first time customers for the brand. These customers all want to see and feel the product. Starting of offline stores via a franchisee model can scale up and be profitable too.

Shipping fees can be wavered above a certain limit. This encourages the customers to purchase more from the site and result in profitability for the etaier.

Threats:

Risks associated with the confidentiality of the information during transaction and storage. It is easy to duplicate the site by competitors as it available in the public domain. Some products will face backlog problem because incorrect marketing plan or incorrect sales

method. This problem will lead to economic loss and capital turnover difficult.

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The same product will engage in price war between e-tailers and may lead to loss. This issue can be minimized by giving benefits for customers by loyalty programs /by making contract with competitors to decline pressure.

Sales are necessary in both brick-and-mortar stores as well as e-commerce storefronts. One can’t solely rely on e-commerce as a selling medium. A mixture

of both is needed.

Strategies to be incorporated in brick-and-mortar stores to increase customer satisfaction:

1. Waiting area for males who accompany their children and wife to stores. Provision for magazines and coffee /refreshments area near the waiting area will add attractiveness for the store. The store can provide the customers at the waiting lounge with free wireless internet access, Flat screen TV with tips on how to care for babies along with the latest

products can be made available at the store. This will influence the customers to shop more.

2. Play area for kids and cradles for babies with attendants to attend and take care of the kids while the parents do their shopping. The

location of the play area should be such that parents can have an eye on their kids when they do their purchases.

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