eCommerce industry is wooing merchants. Here’s how?

In the eCommerce business, not only buyers but even merchants are availing robust deals. Till now, market leaders like Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal were up with advantageous pacts to woo the merchants. But recently, Paytm and Shopclues have also joined the bandwagon and are giving tough competition to the bigwigs of this industry.

As per an Economic Times report, these eCommerce biggies are aiming to multiply their businesses. The report stated Flipkart and Amazon targeting to double their merchant numbers to 1 lakh by the end of this year. Snapdeal is aiming for 10 lakh onboard sellers in another three years which Paytm, the five-month-old, aims to reach in two years.

Snapdeal senior vice-president and market development said, "The game is evolving from just being about acquiring merchants to staying relevant and meaningful continually for these sellers. It is not difficult to get new sellers on board as of now as long as your brand proposition and promise is absolutely clear."

It’s not just the consumers but buyers too are not loyal to particular eCommerce sites. The buyers, on the one hand are eager to gain best deals, merchants, on the other hand crave for maximum business.

Online marketplaces, to tempt the consumers, are running a variety of initiatives. The initiatives like Amazon's Chai Cart programme that seeks to spread awareness among local small entrepreneurs and sellers in small cities and towns and exclusive fulfillment and warehousing facilities.

Market leaders like Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal too are offering hefty promotional rates to merchants. Deals like promotional rates for commissions per order and delivery charges, as temporarily waiving fees pertaining to subscription, packaging, and inventory storage are on hand.

Shopclues, however levies only a service fee and delivery charge per order, and Paytm is promoting itself as a zero-commission platform, although it charges marketing fees on each sale.

Sreelata Jonnalagedda, an assistant professor at IIM-Bangalore specialising in marketing and pricing channels, said lower commissions do not necessarily mean winning sellers. "When it costs less to sign up for a marketplace, then obviously every seller will register on all platforms. However, this is rarely the case," she said.

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