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Net Gains (Dec 18, 98) |
We're exactly a week away from Christmas, and if you've still
not completed your Christmas shopping, have no fear - the Internet
is here! Till earlier this year, we in India could only use the
Net to send free electronic cards, because most sites offering
online shopping required international credit cards. And like
it or not, there are just a handful of people who have international
credit cards.
But all that has changed now, and now all of us in India can actually
shop online and buy things off the Net for family and friends
in a matter of minutes, as per our convenience. And since the
Internet is accessible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, there's
no more being restricted to shop timings, unruly salespeople and
huge shopping crowds. Let's take a quick look at some Indian sites
from where you can buy your Christmas goodies online.
The Rediff Shop (http://www.rediff.com/shopping/) became India's
first e-commerce site in August when they opened their virtual
doors and started accepting Indian credit card payments online.
Rediff today boasts of four shops - The Rediff Book shops (with
over 1,00,000 books), The Rediff Music Shop (with over 40,000
titles), The Rediff Hotels (over 200 hotels all over India), and
The Gift Shop (foreign and Indian chocolates, flowers, CD ROMS,
and the entire CRY range of products). The process is rather simple
- you can either browse through the range of products or search
for a specific item. With discounts going upto 60% you can afford
to keep adding items to your shopping cart, till you're ready
to check out. When you finish shopping, you can choose your mode
of payment - either credit card or cheque. Credit card is the
quicker option and it's safe since Rediff has a secure server
(the closed lock / full key at the bottom left of your browser
shows you that). The paranoid can pay via cheque, but their shipments
won't be carried out till the cheque is cleared. Delivery is done
using Federal Express' 48-hour service, and if you face any problem
while shopping online, Rediff even offers you on-the-spot live
customer service on weekdays between 10 am and 5 pm, where a representative
answers your queries and clears your doubts.
IndiShop (http://www.indishop.com) recently opened shop on the
Internet about a month ago, taking the form of a cybermall, with
14 department stores under their site, including books (1,00,000
books and 2,000 magazines), music (1,00,000 titles), household
appliances, sports goods, computers, food, gardening, lingerie
and toiletries. Here too, you can search for something in particular
or browse through different categories to pick up items that catch
your fancy. Keep adding things on your shopping list to your shopping
cart till you're done shopping. After entering the usual details
required for confirmation, shipping and billing, you have options
of paying via credit card or cash on delivery. Immediately after
IndiShop started their services, and even before I could try out
their services, reader Nikhil Kelshikar, pointed out that transactions
were insecure. When I did try shopping, he was right - if you
choose the credit card option on Indishop, the details you enter
are not secure - and the open lock / broken key indicate that
your credit card number are not encrypted and transmitted.
As for my Christmas shopping, I wanted to get hold of a CD by
Firehouse (just for one mushy soppy track - "I live my life
for you"), and grab Busybee's book. Indishop offered me the
Firehouse cassette (no CD available) for Rs. 209 (yes, that's
not a typographical error) and the Busybee book for Rs. 135. The
Rediff Music Shop offered me the Firehouse cassette for Rs. 60,
and the CD for Rs. 485, while the book would cost me Rs. 140.
With different online shops offering different prices, it's just
a matter of time before someone designs a search engine for shopping
that will allow users to type in an item, and then show which
site offers the lowest price for that item.
Thanks to online shopping, I wrote this column while relishing
chocolates (bought on IndiShop), while the strains of Titanic
(bought on Rediff) played in the background. Shopping online can
be a fun experience, in addition to the convenience and discounts
that you can avail of. But watch out for your security and privacy
when you shop online.
Stay logged on next week as your cyber santa comes along with
his bag of goodies from the Internet specially for those who've
been good surfers this past year …