The e-commerce bubble coming to an end in India is actually great news!

Most of this month, the media has been abuzz with gloomy stories about how e-commerce companies are ‘getting consolidated’, shuttering, cost-cutting and so on; I think what is happening now is absolutely fantastic for India’s e-commerce Industry in the long term.

I have no idea how e-commerce entrepreneurs were able to convince venture capitalists to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into nothing more than simple e-retail shops between 2010 and 2012, but they did, and spent their money into creating giant cash bleeding machines. The era of unreal valuations and over-optimism about e-commerce, it seems, is thankfully almost over and what will emerge from this is what I like to call “real”, organic, natural e-commerce as could have been the case right from the start, if it wasn’t for the unnecessary VC money.

You may recall this post from a long time ago where I made some predictions about where Indian e-commerce is headed over the next five years, the first of these predictions has come true; I quote: 

Most of the venture-backed stores that are currently making losses will continue their downward spiral and will die out. The ones who will survive, are the ones who are currently profitable or are on their way to be profitable.

The fulfilling of this prophecy will inevitably ensure that the rest of the predictions in that post will also come to pass (see how I sound almost biblical there?). — This means a more dynamic, organic, innovative and functioning e-commerce industry in the country that will be a lot of fun to be part of.

E-commerce Slowdown: Flipkart, Jabong cutting jobs - The Times of India
E-commerce & idli profitability - The Hindu
e-commerce may indeed be the future of commerce, but if it is, then the future is a tough place.
E-Commerce in India at Turning Point - India Real Time - WSJ
A ripple of mergers and closures among India’s e-commerce websites that began last year is threatening to become a wave, as these companies find it harder to get fresh funding.
Successful Indian Startups Sacking Employees In Huge Numbers
Bangalore: The cutback of India’s e-commerce sector has led to the handing out of pink slips by online retailers as they shift attention from acquiring customers to controlling costs. Among the companies sacking staff, Flipkart and Jabong, the leaders in the e-commerce space have nearly sacked about one-tenth of the workforce, reports TOI.
Online Fashion Retailer Rock.in Shuts Down
Online fashion retailer Rock.in, backed by Partech International, a venture capital firm based in France and Silicon Valley, has shut shop. This is one of the many e-commerce companies that shut shop in the country over the last three months.

Marc Andreessen predicts the death of traditional retail. Yes: Absolute death

Andreessen predicts the death of traditional retail. Yes: Absolute death
“Retail guys are going to go out of business and ecommerce will become the place everyone buys. You are not going to have a choice,We’re still pre-death of retail, and we’re already seeing a huge wave of growth. The best in class are going to get better and better. We view this as a long term opportunity.” Said Andreessen

India: Remove FDI ban from retail e-commerce: Assocham

Business Line : Industry & Economy News : Remove FDI ban from retail e-commerce: Assocham
Industry body Assocham has asked the government to remove the ban on foreign direct investment in retail e-commerce business.

It was a very strange move by the government to ban FDI in e-commerce in the first place while at the same time, allowing FDI in physical retail, and if this was because Walmart and other Retail giants lobbied for the ban to happen, the ban will be lifted as soon as these giants will want to start their e-commerce operations in the country, not sooner.

the eCommerce India community on google plus

eCommerce India - Google+

Google+ has a cool new communities feature, like “Groups” in Facebook and Linkedin, and it’s pretty cool - unlike facebook and linkedin, Google communities can make use of Google+ Hangouts.

I recently started the eCommerce India Google+ Community. It’s new, not much content there yet, but if you are into eCommerce in India, do join, it might turn out to be a fantastic resource for networking and education. 

2013 - First year of profitability for India’s new e-commerce companies?

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Forbes India Magazine - Will E-commerce Companies Finally Start Making Profits in 2013?
Overall discount levels have dropped. More e-commerce companies stock and own less inventory in favour of a marketplace-based fulfilment model. The fall in competitive aggression has brought down the cost of customer acquisition by 20-30 percent. Investor syndicates have held up, and are backing their winners. Topline growth is on track, with most leading players closing two to three times growth over last year. I am confident that 2013 will separate the boys from the men, and the industry will produce winners, thereby rewarding efforts of early believers in the opportunity.
tuxwx: What’s really ironic is that Linux controls every other place there is a microprocessor except the desktop computer. People just assume that if they don’t see it on their laptop/desktop, it’s obscure and a failure. Say that to the kernel dev who finally allies with the machines :P It’s awesome to see in this infographic the percentage of code contributed by individual, independent developers. It’s amazing that so many people give so much of their time writing code for no monetary return, but simply for the satisfaction that they did their part in creating a better way to use computers.
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tuxwx:

What’s really ironic is that Linux controls every other place there is a microprocessor except the desktop computer. People just assume that if they don’t see it on their laptop/desktop, it’s obscure and a failure. Say that to the kernel dev who finally allies with the machines :P

It’s awesome to see in this infographic the percentage of code contributed by individual, independent developers. It’s amazing that so many people give so much of their time writing code for no monetary return, but simply for the satisfaction that they did their part in creating a better way to use computers.

Q:that "argument" doesn't back atheism at all. if you know about Hinduism it would clearly back that. It means when the world wasn't existent, us humans (our souls) were perfect with God.

Anonymous

I do know about Hinduism, I was born in a Hindu family and raised as a Hindu - I know what there are several schools of thoughts within the religion including some that are atheistic (charvaka and similar) and some that are agnostic (samkhya and the religions it spawned - buddhism and jainsm).

The “argument”, as I interpret it, is that IF there is a God that is perfect, it would be really stupid of him to bring beings into existence only to endure suffering. It would also be stupid for a god that is everything to actually create (the illusion of?) something, there isn’t any need for that.

Bottomline, Assuming our souls were perfect with god when the world was non-existent, There is no point in God creating a world, hence, this particular philosophy thinks that a) there may be no god or b) god is kinda stupid.