Within
a year of joining the e-commerce bandwagon as a distribution channel,
government entity India Post has transacted business worth Rs 280 crore in the
Cash-on-Delivery (CoD) segment alone for firms like Flipkart, Snapdeal and
Amazon
Within a year of joining the e-commerce bandwagon as a
distribution channel, government entity India Post has transacted business
worth Rs 280 crore in the Cash-on-Delivery (CoD) segment alone for firms
like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon.
While the amount of revenue generated for itself could not be
ascertained, government officials said India Post is very keen on
developing its e-commerce related services as a major revenue model going
ahead. "India Post collected over Rs 280 crore from consumers and
gave it to e-commerce firms, since CoD facility was started in December
2013. The department with its huge network can serve as the best agency
for not just delivering products, but also collecting money," a
government official said. However, this is a small chunk of the overall market
size for e-commerce in India, which runs into billions of dollars already
and is growing at a fast pace every year.
CoD has emerged as one of the most sought after services for
e-commerce entities and 50-75 percent of orders are placed with various
online retailers with this payment option, while the remaining opt for credit
card or bank payments. In India, customers tend to prefer CoD as the
online payment modes are yet to catch up in many parts of the
country while many people are not comfortable with advance payments for
products purchased online.
India Post's cash handling
services like core banking solutions, money transfer and a robust account
system can further help e-commerce firms in collecting cash from
users in urban as well as rural areas, the official said. India Post has
about 1.55 lakh post offices, making it the world's largest postal
network. On an average, a post office serves 21.21 sq km area and
about 7,175 people. Another official said various e-commerce firms have
been using India Posts CoD facility since it was introduced.
Firms like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, Shopclues, Naaptol, Telebrands
and Homeshop18 are some of them. India Post has set up booking counters in the
premises of some customers like Amazon and Naaptol, while for Snapdeal
it is exploring setting up of e-commerce booking kiosks in post office
locations.
Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has also said
previously that India Post is best suited to offer delivery services to
e-commerce players, given its wide reach across rural, urban and
semi-urban areas. The Minister has directed officials from the
Department of Posts to focus on opportunities in e-commerce
sector. India Post is also ramping up its infrastructure to grab a
major chunk of the distribution, delivery or logistics, which will touch
about USD 9 billion by 2021. According to market experts, e-commerce business
in India was about USD 6 billion in value in 2012 and is expected
to touch USD 76 billion by 2021 of which distribution, delivery and
logistics constitutes around 12 percent.
No comments:
Post a Comment