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8 Responses to “ComGateway”

1. 1 Mukund Dec 6th, 2005 at 7:24 am

   This is a very good information/article. When people around the world talk of globalization…why not applying this to e-commerce or online shopping, after all this is another way of business…just that its in the virtual world but with real products. yes sanjay this is a good opportunity one must not miss.

   Mukund

2. 2 Sameer Shisodia Dec 6th, 2005 at 8:25 am

   Real good opportunity. Of course its a little too dependent on prevailing duty structures, business regulations etc, but thats unlikely to change too rapidly.
   And to extend that further - a lot of the stuff sold in the US is produced in China or Malayasia or Taiwan etc. - a lot of it purely for export, or ‘exclusively’ produces for store X (say, Wal-Mart).
   Now if the guys in Singapore makes sure he sources it from the production site directly - that saves shipping expenses (and probably a lot many others). If the store gets paid directly for this - they might be willing too.

3. 3 Mukund Dec 6th, 2005 at 10:15 am

   oh i missed out on this major factor. The dreaded government factor plays a most important part. I am sure the govt mindset of imposing import duty just to protect local manufacturers would be the foremost stumbling block.

4. 4 Gaurav Dec 6th, 2005 at 10:53 am

   1. E-commerce is yet to really take off even within the domestic market
   2. Cost of goods is usually lower in India for most items (esp. if you consider customs duty etc)
   3. Electronic items have issues with voltage, DVDs have issues with region encodings etc
   4. Time for delivery will be very long

   So I think this service will be relevant for a narrow range of products. It can be a good profitable business but unlikely to become huge (”elephant” in Sanjay’s terminology :))

5. 5 Somkiran Dec 8th, 2005 at 8:05 pm

   Online shopping has caught up and it will grow exponentially. Indian start-ups should surely foucs on this domain. eBay is a great example.
   I look forward to the “online shopping with ease” rahter than “easy online shopping”.

6. 6 Sumedh Mungee Dec 9th, 2005 at 5:36 am

   Why does this need to be its own, separate service ? When the sleeping giant that is the Indian e-commerce market awakes, the rumblings will be heard in the U.S., and you can bet that online shops will be open and hungry for Indian customers, just like Switzerland is wooing Indian tourists with Bollywood.

7. 7 Mr.V Aug 28th, 2007 at 10:38 am

   Hi All,

   Guess my comments are quite late. But noticed this forum only today.
   Something you missed out on their business model;

   1) Firstly they dont source from local suppliers. They are just as a Freight Forwarding Company. Customers directly order from US Shopping Websites.
   2) In Singapore, the duties and customs are different for Individuals and Corporates. For individuals there are no duties upto a certain amount. Because of the above model, the transactions fall under individual category and hence in most cases they are duty free
   3) When you do a transaction on a US website, they verify your card’s billing address in the Card Network. If it is a non US address, most of the sites doesnt ship. But if the card is registered with comGateway, this address verification goes through. There is a complex internal process involved and arragements with card companies and banks. This is a major technical edge for comgateway. They enable your card to shop on US websites.

   and many more…

8. 8 Shania Dec 26th, 2007 at 8:38 pm

   YEs indeed there is 1 service provided by Singpore post that provide Indian consumers from US.
   Take a look:
   http://www.vpostasia.com/india/index.html

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