Apparel April 2019 Apparel May 2019 issue | Page 37

FEATURE
E-commerce and fashion, one can say,
have learned from each other. They both have
similar features, including being dynamic, fast
and furious, with an innate ability to get the
customers hooked onto them. Both these
spaces have worked out innovative ways to
get customers to stick with them. Taking a
leaf from this experience, India’s e-commerce
players are building their own ecosystems by
incorporating everything from financial services
to entertainment, in addition to providing their
customers a place to shop. This new wave of
being an ‘all services provider’ is probably a
learning that Indian e-commerce players have
learnt from international competition much later in
their life cycle, but the trend is catching on fast.
THE EVOLUTION
Amazon might have been the forerunner of
providing such services to Indian customers, but
Paytm wasn’t far in latching on to this learning.
From being a payment gateway, Paytm quickly
turned into a payment services provider providing
everything—from being a platform for booking air
tickets to shopping at Paytm Mall where you can
get cashback on paying your electricity bills! The
possibilities seem endless.
On the other end of the spectrum is Flipkart,
which started off as a books portal 10 years ago
and graduated to being a marketplace to finally
being bought over by Walmart. It is now on the
INDIA’S E-COMMERCE PLAYERS ARE
BUILDING THEIR OWN ECOSYSTEMS
BY INCORPORATING EVERYTHING
FROM FINANCIAL SERVICES TO
ENTERTAINMENT, IN ADDITION TO
PROVIDING THEIR CUSTOMERS A
PLACE TO SHOP.
verge of launching a new lending operation,
utilising its own data on customers as well as
external sources. The operation tracks around
1,000 data points to gauge ability and intent to
repay—to offer them credit even when they don’t
have a credit history. The operation is still in a
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