Customer Acquisition and Retaining Practices in E Tailing Business A study with Reference to FMCG in Bengaluru

Abstract

Electronic retailing, denoted as E-tailing, is the vending of goods and services with newlinethe help of Internet. As internet is the prime channel for E-tailing, the companies newlineshould focus on designing their business models to conquer Internet trades. newlineMeanwhile, the use of internet as trade channel creates certain uncertainties in newlineconsumers buying approach. Consumers identify higher risk in their purchase newlinethrough internet compared to traditional retailing formats. Further, majority of the newlineconsumers find it difficult to pay using credit/debit cards or other online payment newlinemethods as they are not familiar with those modes. Another problem is associated newlinewith delivery of products as most of the products are arriving on ships and the online newlinevendors should make a tie-up with private courier services to deliver the products. In newlinesuch cases, the delay in shipping and lack of efficiency of courier services in the newlinedelivery of products makes the consumers unsatisfied with the vendors. The newlinelanguage barrier also cause problems to the consumers as most of these retailers use newlineEnglish as the prime language to communicate with consumers, whereas the newlineconsumers from small towns and rural areas may not be proficient in English. newlineAbove all, the inability of the E-tailing vendors to provide a personal touch and feel newlineexperience like in multi-brand outlets, also makes the consumers reluctant to purchase newlinefrom e-tailing vendors. All the above mentioned issues along with increased newlinecompetition in the retail sector make the acquisition and retention of the consumer a newlinedifficult task for the E-tailing vendors. On the other hand, acquisition and retention of newlinethe consumers is an important factor that affects the profitability and growth of newlinebusinesses. Hence, effective retention and acquisition strategies in e-tailing sectors are newlineimperative for businesses. In this context, online vendors have invested in various newlinecustomer acquisition and retention strategies like dynamic pricing, personalization, newlineoffering security and fraud detection, consistent services