A Singaporean startup that makes it easier for Singaporeans to buy from US websites.
Can one make it easier for Indian consumers to buy from the US ?
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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”.
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 :))
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.
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.
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