Online Shopping in India- Things to Know for those Who Haven't Done it Yet!

Online shopping in an activity that is on the rise in India now. More and more people are finding it convenient to buy those items such as books, DVDs, laptops, tablets, e-readers,  mobile phones, cameras, electronic gadgets, shoes, clothing, furnishings, utensils and kitchenware, perfumes and toiletries, medicines and health products, car care items, etc., etc which otherwise would have taken a lot of their time actually locate and buy. The online retailers provide the fastest solution to locate the item with all those details one would perhaps like to know such as the costs, specifications, appearance, etc.

For many items of regular use and consumption, it might be better to go to the retail shop physically and enjoy your shopping as a leisure time activity.  But for some people, shopping is indeed a troublesome activity. They have to first locate the store which sells the item and go to the store physically which might involve driving through the hopelessly crowded and congested roads either by public transport or by your own vehicle. In the latter case, one has to find the parking space for your vehicle. In both cases, one may have to walk quite some distance to actually reach the shop concerned. If the item is not available, you have to walk around for locating other shops.

One may spent the whole holiday in this process and it is indeed not a very pleasurable activity, especially for the menfolks!

Online shopping becomes a boon for such people. In the comfort of your office or home, the items you need could be easily located, compared, evaluated and finally decided for purchase. And the purchasing activity is completed within few minutes with the some clicks on your PC, laptop or tablet.  

The world's largest online retail company, the US based Amazon.com has entered the Indian scene nearly an year ago. To visit the Amazon India website, click on the amazon logo on the top right and the bottom left of this page. Alternatively, you can find the availability of any item in Amazon. For this you may click the drop down arrow of the search box below to select, say computers and then type the item that you are interested, say tablet or laptop in the next box and click 'GO'. The whole of available products in this category would be displayed for you to view, select and order online. It is that simple.

But before you purchase any item, it is essential that you may register your name with the online retailer. 

For registration, one should click the 'sign in' tab on the top right which is for customers who have already registered their names. But while clicking this one can see, the button or drop down indicator which shows the tab for the new user. When you click it, you are presented with the new registration page. Here one has to enter the name, e-mail address and a password (not the password of your email, but a password that you would like to use whenever you visit this online retailer (say, Amazon). To avoid possible errors in typing, your email and password may be required to be typed twice. Once you have done this, you may have to go to your email inbox to see the mail from the online retailer which gives you some directions including the activity that you should do for email verification.  

India has many other online retail companies such as the eBay, Flipkart, Snapdeal, HomeShop18, IndiatimesShopping, RediffShopping, FutureBazaar, myntra, tradus, etc. Most of these companies have established their reputation in India in one way or the other and are mostly reliable. All of them have almost similar registration formalities. The registration involves in giving your e-mail id, your name or user name, setting up a password for you to open the shopping site, verifying your email id by clicking the verification link that the online shop has sent to you and completing your other details such as address etc by updating your profile.  

Many of these online shopping websites also provide handsome rebates on many of their merchandise. Online shoppers could avail such rebates by entering the rebate coupon codes while they finally place their orders online. However, it may not be so easy to find out the details of all rebates that the various internet shops are offering. I have recently found another new Indian online venture called 27 Coupons which lists almost all online shopping firms active in India now and giving all details of rebate coupons as offered by each of them. 

It is a better idea to note down your registration details lest you forget it. After you are registered, use the sign in facility to log in to the online shopping site. You can search and select the items conveniently by moving around the site and with some practice one would become so conversant about the many features that are available on the online shopping site.

If you are located in some select cities, many shopping sites offer the Cash on Delivery (COD) facility. To check whether COD facility is available for your city or town, you may have to give your postal index number (PIN) and check whether it is applicable for your place. COD is a very safe method to order things as you don't have to pay any thing while ordering. The money is payable to the courier who delivers the item at your office or home. Remember, to fill up your delivery address properly with your contact telephone or mobile numbers before you place your final order.

But it is also convenient to pay in advance using either your debit card, credit card or internet banking facility. Use these only if you are familiar with online banking transactions. There is nothing to fear when you deal with reputed companies such as Amazon. But at the same time, one should be careful to read all the online instructions carefully and act on the basis of those instructions. It is not wise to act in haste and commit errors.

The online shopping companies provide much guidance through email and SMS regarding the order position and status. There are also provisions for making complaints. Your order positions are also reflected in your account which is available once you log in to the shopping site.

It is a good idea to shop for small value items first and develop your confidence first. High value items may be tried after you develop your confidence with the online retailer.

It should be remembered that the items you have ordered on the online retailing companies are delivered through various couriers. Reputed companies dispatch the items through reputed couriers and the reputation of the courier company is a very important factor in the success of the online shopping business. Substandard couriers may employ lowly paid delivery boys and staff who might do some mischief at times. The online retailers realize this mostly and they try to do their best to select dependable courier companies often.Yet there could be human errors and mistakes happening at times. One should be prepared to pursue the online retailer in such cases and the reputed companies normally take up the customer complaints seriously.

So, happy online shopping. Explore the huge stores to find those things that you may find useful or interesting. Get those interesting books that you like to read either as paper backs or as digital. Amazon is perhaps the largest online bookstore in the world. Happy reading!