to purchase items of their choice, thus prompting them to resort to e-retailers. “For books, I usually prefer shopping from physical stores, but so far, only Flipkart has managed to supply me with Manga, Japanese literature, that's otherwise difficult to find. Plus, it's often cheaper to buy online. I'm definitely going to be a regular on their site,” enthuses Riddhima Toshniwal, a content writer from Raipur.
Such experiences explain the growing popularity of Flipkart in the non-metro regions as well. “We will close 2011-2012 with over $100 million in revenue. By 2015, we want to clock in $1billion, but looking at present trends, we may be able to do it sooner,” states Binny, Flipkart's CEO. This statement doesn't seem far-fetched; a quick overview of India's Internet penetration shows a user base of approximately 100 million. The Government's National Broadband Plan, pegged at $4.5 billion, proposes to connect nearly 160 million additional Internet users by 2014. The spread, and subsequent adoption of e-commerce, thus, only seems logical. With several reputed brick-and-mortar
retailers also offering online services, it seems natural the trend of shopping remotely will scale up substantially. “The value proposition in either formats of retailing, physical and online, is different. It's the experience of touch-and-feel that makes physical shopping exciting. In the online context, convenience and comfort takes over. There's ample scope for both to grow,” Sachin avers.