Barriers of E-Commerce in Indian Industry for MSME Segment

E-Commerce turns out to be the buzz word of business in Indian scenario. The numerous activities which is taking place in the digital marketing medium is indicating the kind of upsurge in the industry verticals w.r.t digital media presence.  Recent trends in the e-commerce based business outcome clearly emulsify the conservative market approach and open the alternative channels of communication. Despite all this factors, the rate of e-commerce penetration at the industry levels are not at par with the consumer adaptation levels. Medium and Small Scale Enterprises being the pillar of Indian industries, the penetration of e-commerce in to MSME segment drawn our attention. This research paper focuses on the penetration of e-commerce medium in MSME segment, what are the principal and secondary levels factors which are becoming barriers for the e-commerce medium for varied Indian Industries. The research methodology what we have opted is on qualitative data analysis and where ever available some secondary data quantification also will be taken in to consideration for the correlation of our analysis. The outcome of this study could throw some light on the barriers which are causing hurdles for the impact of ecommerce on Indian MSME segment.

Introduction

Ecommerce the buzzing syndrome for changing businesses. Since last decade of time we have witnessed an upsurge in the ecommerce way of doing business. It is always evident from the historic sequences that business verticals and the business gamut always keep facing the challenges of heat in such a way that either the industries has to adopt to the changing technological trends or get wiped off soon from the business competition.

Also in the other way round, at times when entirely some new business take place in a different business vertical, that affects the MSME’s of the other industry. A case study of “REDBUS.in” a travel portal could be a better example of what the scenario we are cascading. Until the launch of RED BUS, the travel agents business was at merry in many happening cities of our country. The way ecommerce scenario has stepped in, changed the way the Travel Industry works. Needless to confine only to RED BUS, many such travel assistance portals has changed the dynamics of the Industry verticals.

When we purview all this kind of changes, it really draws an attention as to how ecommerce can create a penetrating impact on the industry verticals, and in our country MSME plays a predominant role in the economic development of the country. In such a condition, what are factors which are creating traction for the MSME’s to adopt the ecommerce platform for servicing their clientele needs and what could be the factors which are hindering the progress of the various MSME’s getting in to the ecommerce platform.[1]

Despite the fact the scope for study in this subject is with plethora of options, we curtail our study in this research paper to an extent of understanding the barriers which are cascading the MSME’s from using the ecommerce platform in an aggressive manner.

Be it the financial, the clarity on process management, viability or the technological adaptation constraints, we would like to understand from varied inputs of the earlier research papers and extent our part of work research in to understanding the affective barriers which curtail the ecommerce penetration in to MSME.

Incidentally the consumer end of the ecommerce has got to such a rapid phase of adoption that today the kind of Internet bandwidth which the households are opting too, the kind of online business volume which is happening all across stands witness for the fine adaptation of ecommerce medium for their purchases.

When the Indian consumer market has given acceptance to the kind of online medium of transactions, the trunk of Indian business MSME’s not responding equally fast to the changing environment is a noticeable constraint.[2]

When we purview certain factors from the market and people who have stepped in to the dynamics of supporting ecommerce platform for MSME’s, one such representative acknowledge that

Entrepreneurs and small businesses in India face many hindrances in not only the initial stages of setting up but also in growing their businesses. Arranging adequate finance is also an obstacle and this could also mean that the rate of technology adoption is affected. All these hinder the prospects of startups and SMEs.

We are delighted to see that the Indian government recognises the value of, and supports the increased usage of e-commerce to aid in the growth and development of local businesses.

“Based on our experience, we are certain that more businesses will be encouraged to adopt e-commerce as internet penetration improves while they gradually realize the benefits that come with doing business online and reaching global, untapped markets through platforms like Alibaba.com.”[3]

 “The growing Internet base in the country, with more than 121 million Internet users is highly encouraging. This trend has a direct correlation in the growth of e-commerce in the country. India’s Internet economy has been growing at 23% Y-O-Y as per the recent report by BCG.As small businesses around the world are increasingly leveraging e-commerce, Indian SMEs too are diving into exploit opportunities available through the Internet.”

The above statement of ecommerce industry entrants who facilitate the MSME’s has really drawn us to have an insight and we worked upon a lot of literature on the aspects of MSME, how the MSMEs emerge and the viability factors of them in various industries, how they can synergize in to the industry dynamics of ecommerce, coping with the changing business trends. We are pleased with the kind of numerous research papers which are available to review, and give us a scope for furtherance in our topic.

The research methodology which we shall be adapting in this is about qualitative analysis and work on the case study approach and the kind of impacts which has created the corrigendum and interpret the data gathered for gaining an insight in to the hindrances which are actually the pull down factors for Indian SME’s stepping in to ecommerce platform .

This chapter fill be followed by the literature review section, where the key inputs from the literature concerned, which we reviewed for the inputs will be discussed and the other inputs shall also be mentioned in the research paper, which shall support us in gaining the insights in to the industry aspects.

Literature Review

The literature review part being a critical factor which gives us the detailed understanding of the factors involved and the gamut of the topic on which we are conducting the research. As a task of our literature review process, we tried to review all the earlier work which has been carried out the previous researches and the papers submitted accordingly. This shall give us the overview of the aspects and also can certainly help us initiate the process accordingly when we proceed to have our research methodology in place to have a proper orientation of the work. We have divided our literature review in to various blocks and kept reviewing the literature available on all such parts, to gain insight in to all the aspects which will suffice the need for our work process. [4]

Effectiveness of eCommerce in Indian Business

Indian Business space is showering a considerable opportunity for eCommerce, despite the fact that it is still in nascent stage, we can’t deny the fact that even the lowest of projections indicate as stunning boom for ecommerce.

The way Indian consumer market is getting bombarded with communication gadgets like Computers, Laptops, Tablets and Smart phones; clearly indicate the kind of growth factors which is taking place in the Indian Industry. Today more of the Telco’s operating in Indian Spectrum are agreeing that their race and competition is about the Data and Content services rather than the Voice over services. This predominantly emphasizes the nature of impact and activity which eCommerce is spreading in the consumer segment.

Even the rural parts of India started encountering ecommerce in their day-day lives, the way IRCTC subscriber base and the online ticketing systems; e-governance implementation in many districts has only popularized the ecommerce trends. Any amount of research can support us with the fact that the common middle class from rural segment might not understand the technical term as eCommerce, but they term it as “ONLINE”. “Online” is how the mid-age population of India is trying to educate themselves to changing trends of ecommerce oriented survival of life. [5]

India’s eCommerce industry is on the growth curve and experiencing a surge in growth. The Online Travel Industry is the biggest segment in eCommerce and is flourishing largely due to the Internet-savvy urban population, whereas the rural population is getting to adapt to that stage of ecommerce penetration. The other segments, apart from travel industry is about e-Tailing (online retail), online classifieds and Digital Downloads (still in a blossoming stage), online banking. The online travel industry has some private players such as Makemytrip, Cleartrip and Yatra as well as a strong government presence in terms of IRCTC, The online classifieds segment is broadly divided into three sectors; Jobs, Matrimonial and Real Estate and the B2B or B2C classifieds . Mobile Commerce is also growing rapidly and proving to be a stable and secure supplement to eCommerce due to the record growth in mobile user base in India, in recent years. Growth drivers and barriers are present in equal measures for new eCommerce ventures.

Eventually all this has lead our country to be prospective on the ecommerce map. To make a successful e-commerce transaction both the payment and delivery services must be made efficient. The numbers which speaks about the ecommerce implementation has rising in a fast manner in the recent past. Majority of the Indian portal sites have also shifted towards e-commerce rather than relying only on the revenues generated from the advertisement segment. Many sites are now gearing up for a diverse range of products and services from flowers, greeting cards, and movie tickets to groceries, electronic gadgets, and computers to be in their site for visual merchandise. With stock exchanges coming online the time for dynamic e-commerce in India has finally arrived Emergence of eCommerce in Indian MSME Sector

Barriers for eCommerce Implementation

Ecommerce implementation has been a very interesting aspect of research in the recent past. Categorically, in the ASIAN markets and in specific to the Indian scenario, this is revering a greater interest and the kind of literature reviews which are available over the internet is a phenomenal stand out for the same. [6]

Taking a sneak peak in to the kind of tremendous growth paradigm in the Digital Transformation Space, it’s getting more interested as to how the conventional Indian consumer would experience the ongoing changes.

Having noticed a tremendous innovation and growth in the Digital Transformation space, I wonder what it would mean to be a normal Indian consumer, who is now experiencing these changes. In this blog, I attempt to understand and bring forth the perspective of their experience on these wonderful Ecommerce sites.

However few of the major factors which are becoming a reserving factor for the implementation of ecommerce is about the “ecommerce phobia” from the consumer end. The consumer market, despite of switching gears to the online based buying and shopping, still has the problem of perception issues.

The other cohesive factor which is being a major barrier for ecommerce move is about the legal systems not being up to the requisite standards in India. The kind of news which is prevailing across about the kind of online fraudulence is making the Indian consumers make a step back on to the reliability factors towards online shopping or any sort of financial transactions. Unless there is studious laws and systems in place to protect the interest of the common man, ecommerce shall endure this hindrance. [7]

The other major disturbing factor which is eventually turning out to be major hurdle is about the Banking Sector. There is enormous growth rate in the utilization of online services from the urban population, whereas the rural India is yet to get the penetration of such a growth on online terms.

Majority of the banking organizations encourage Indian merchandise, to take their “POS” machines and integrate their payment gateways, whereas the same kind of attention is not laid out on educating their own customer base about the advantages of ecommerce based shopping or online sales facilitation.

This intern is a direct affect on the ecommerce business of MSME’s as the density of this MSME are located in the Sub-urban and the rural segments of the country.

In nutshell, the boom at one end of the consumer market and the push to the organizations towards getting in to ecommerce mode is missing is a healthy link which shall endure the process to a steady growth for SME’s.

Scope for eCommerce based MSME developments

The early stages of ecommerce development which is depicted in Indian MSME scenario, is becoming a prima concern for the potential growth scope it could have, the companies which are of decades old in the MSME sector is still remaining in the same manner, using the traditional methods of business channels such as trade shows, print catalogs and trading agents are still popular.

However, as per the analysts envisage, e-commerce got in to the growth phenomena whilst of global recession, as SME’s started identifying route level alternatives to cut down their operational and promotional expenses and travel budgets and relied more on e-commerce to conduct trade, both internationally and domestically. An increasing number of small businesses from smaller Industrial cities across the city have registered on portals like Sulekha, Alibaba.com during the period of recession.

It should come as no surprise that online marketplaces which are a new way of business to MSME’s are vividly used in large cities such as Mumbai, New Delhi  and Bangalore, where internet is more accessible and where customers and companies are having it as way of their day-day business operations.

We expect to see rapid growth and expansion of e-commerce in India as the availability of high-speed internet service becomes more ubiquitous across the nation as more small business have realized the power of e-commerce.[8]

The other scope for the rapid deployment of ecommerce base in Indian MSME’s is the generation of the entrepreneurs who are handling the business segment. Review of few cases pertaining to MSME’s indicate that, when the next gen has taken over the realms of their family owned business, the surpass way for the young management is to adapt the ecommerce systems and ensure that their team is getting prepared to the retreat of it.

The other major scope which will emulsify the ecommerce trend in to MSME’s is the kind of panorama, that the production and the raw material costs across the developed countries growing very high, is creating a ripple effect on the low cost production in Indian MSME. Hence majority of the organizations across the developed countries started counting their triumph on Indian MSME.

eCommerce shall ensure to have the kind of connect in place for the plethora of opportunities which can be a bilateral support system for both the Indian MSME’s and their global customer base.

There is a upsurge and irreversible phenomena which is prevailing in the growth and scope for growth for Indian MSME’s, and sooner the SME’s have to equip themselves to this trends to ensure their race in the global trade.

Connect between the B2B and B2C business thru eCommerce

“Sulekha.com is been a success story in the field of Online B2B for SMEs. The company has experienced exponential growth in the number of SME’s advertising on it’s marketplace. Currently Sulekha have 44,000+ live paying SME’s on its portal who get leads/responses from Sulekha.com, discussing the industry trends, opportunities and issues”.

“Indian SMEs are reaping the benefits of online trading tools to grow their business. While accessing email is the number one reason for using the Internet, a majority of SMEs (71 percent) also use the Internet as an online tool to search for vendors and suppliers. Most of the businesses feel that online trading tools are very effective as they are cheaper and provide greater reach”.

“Emphasizing the role of SME sector in the overall growth of eCommerce in India, Ambareesh Murty, Country Manager, eBay India highlighted the fact that there is a huge surge towards this new modality of doing business online among Indian SMEs. Ebay has recently unveiled the eBay Census Guide which highlighted the key findings and trends of online buying and selling among Indians”. [9]

This such inputs from the secondary literature review from the excerpts about the ecommerce phenomena in MSME’s implicit that the growth factor has been incremental in the overall scenario, however there is a kind of differentiation which is attributed to this growth factor.

This kind of rapid pace growth is taking place in the B2C segment, and the kind of penetration in such sectors of MSME is rising ahead when compared to the other neck factor of B2B segment.

In the recent past the kind of uproar which is happening about having a social media presence, and the feel good factors which is the buzz, is becoming a social enzyme for the MSME’s. 

However there is meager level of adaptation in a right manner, or a process oriented approach which can consolidate the position for the MSME’s and provide them a sustainable online presence. Unlike B2B, B2C market had its own effect of “Be part of it or Lose out your Business” gamut, and SME’s relatively handling the direct customer base started catching up with the trends very earlier.

The kind of phenomenal growth which ecommerce platforms like Sulekha, India Shopping, Just Dial has witnessed in their subscriber base stands proof to the rapid phase of development.

When we eye upon the kind of reverence what ecommerce is gaining from the Indian MSME’s, still the congregant adaptation of the ecommerce trends in to their nature of business, in MSME’s are being in very low figures. As projected and elicited by many of the previous researches which we have reviewed as a part of this research, is depicting that there is a kind of deep thru analysis which should be adopted as a part of research methodology to ensure that we get to have an interpretation of qualitative data which can give us the insight to quantitative outputs, which will support us in developing the strategies for impregnation of ecommerce systems in to Indian MSME’s.

Research Methodology

To accomplish the objective of the study, we have carefully evaluated the various pedagogies of market research; and have opted for the qualitative research from the secondary data and the effective inputs which the case studies of varies SME’s can provide to us . Questionnaires enable access to a wider spectrum of views and opinions in a shorter space of time, as responses are predefined, and could give the objective.

The qualitative analysis what we have revered to will be correlated and will be taken up to the quantitative analysis with the MSME’s who could be the right sample of respondents. By opting this method of research we are deriving upon the factors that we shall be relying upon the earlier research inputs, correlate the previous research inputs and create a perspective questionnaire, which we will be providing to the sample respondents and get their responses to the identified barriers which create a heck for them in implementing the ecommerce gamut to their existing business model.

This study shall aim at the top managers of SMEs business from various industries to provide us the insight in understanding the hitches involved in the implementation. The data were gathered by means of a drop email request for respondents. The process was carried out in two steps. Firstly, a sample of forty SMEs businesses was identified from various sources that focus on SMEs’s activities. Then, the researchers identified the cases studies involving the ecommerce implementation from many of this SME’s.

This technique is less expensive and can provide an effective insight to us, whilst of administering this research methodology, main limitation what we encounter is the accuracy of the data what we get from the respondents, and the topological limitations also could impact to a limit on the survey outcome.

Hence all the possible care will be taken up in administering the survey samples and ensure that we have right mix of respondents from varied industry verticals and from varied industry locations.

Indeed, to evaluate the effectiveness of the chosen research method it is important to conduct a pilot, study on a small sample of subjects. The outcome from the pilot study will help to detect any flaws in the questions so that they can be corrected prior to the main survey. Therefore, running a pilot study can contribute to maximizing the response rate and minimizing the error rate in answers.[10]

With the aim of accomplishing the desired outcome of this research, the necessary inputs has been well considered and the research methodology is prepared to ensure the smooth flow of data, which can help us in interpretation of actual hindering factors of ecommerce in Indian MSME’s.

Data Interpretation & Analysis

When we consider the dynamics of Indian MSME’s pertaining to the market conditions, competitors, the kind of advancements in the technological front, adoption of new trends and business environment, there are many determinants which create a success factor for Indian MSME sector.

In the recent past, the way MSME’s started targeting niche markets for their products, the cluster data of the customers and the way the companies started integrating social networking in to their promotions and customer relationship management has become significant factor in the bottom lines of business. .

When companies start adapting them to the MSME’s as a platform to work beyond traditional marketing aspects, by integrating the latest trends, it strengthens the brand, form a focused approach, and compete in a global business conditions. When we consider brands like Nirma, Hi-Design and the other few brands, which have built their remarkable presence in the market, started off as MSMEs in the recent past and have successfully reaped the benefits of strategic marketing to enter, compete and gain market share from giant like competitors. 

Technology tools like SMS, digital newsletter and electronic direct mail can be used efficiently to target segmented population. Broadly classified as push marketing, these media tools are cost efficient and easily accessible. To add to this, websites, yellow pages, directory listings help pull the prospective buyer with rational efforts.

MSMEs possess enormous potential required to expand to international market. To acquire a competitive edge, MSMEs must tap opportunities in the international arena in the fields of technology and research and development and engage themselves in international trade.

The case studies what we have considered here is of two segments.

One of the MSME sectors which is always having a boom in Indian sector is the Indian Pharma Sector which is competing with the global markets for high competitive environment.[11]

The other sector which we are focusing is about Textile Industry and it has its own conventional methods of dealing their business despite of its stable outlook in to the global competitive environment.. We have taken up the secondary data analysis from varied inputs and trying to correlate the aspects which are in common as barriers for ecommerce implementation in these industries.

Based on the correlation output we shall create a questionnaire which shall provide us the inputs to speak to the MSME’s and understand the barriers of ecommerce.

The Outlook on Pharma Sector

Unlike any other MSME’s, the pharma industry is known to be a intensive research industry not only towards product developments, also upon the market strategy devising for reaping the benefits of global pharma growth. [12]

According to a study by Betz(1987), the pharma industry is always driven towards gaining an upper edge through innovative approach in the technology. The kind of robust growth which is predicted by early research papers, point towards the kind of online revenue generated by the Pharma companies thru its online portals. The kind of revenue generation has crossed billions of dollars. The research statistics also predict that the global pharma businesses shall rise close to 60% of their operational income through ecommerce by the year 2015.

The need for ecommerce presence in the pharmaceutical industry hovers around the key aspects like integrating their business network, significant gain the transactions thru ecommerce utilization. The effective implementation of ecommerce has helped the companies cross the barriers of geographical accessibility, information sharing and the users for the pharmaceutical community.

Few of the key activities which has taken a rapid shape in ecommerce implementation in Pharma Industry is;

Integrated Information Management System

Having the established corporate identity, and companies connecting their remarkable presence

Few portals which are catering to the specifics of the pharma sector, and being a central gateway for pharma information

The professional support system portals which is an incredible value for professionals from pharma sector.

Ecommerce oriented activities like online promotions, sales online and the E-Clinical transactions are all the indicators of ecommerce penetration in to such a robust sector. In the recent trends the companies started creating their remarkable presence in the online campaigns nurturing the stake holder’s interests upon the company. There are numerous companies which are carrying forward their CSR activities too on the ecommerce platform.

Appropriate usage of ecommerce platform helps companies in building their presence in the international market space. On-line advice by registered professionals and other such activities are take thru for ecommerce by pharma sector in India and also globally.

Key drivers for ecommerce in Pharma sector are

The business process integration and process management, thru effective sources and create a standard

Adapting the technological advancements and stay put in the competition to ensure smooth synthesis of the information content across their business channels

The regulatory advancements, towards the guidelines for electronic submission, regulations and the intellectual property management. 1[13]

Outlook on eCommerce influence in Textile Industry

Since last decade of time, there were numerous aspects which has enthralled the news of textile industry boom. After severity of discussions and rounds of conferences, there was the fruit of liberalization of the textile sector, in a mill level playing field. Demographically India has entered in to lucrative period of age and life style distribution with almost 40% of Indians, in the 15-35 age groups.

The scenario is very welcoming for the Indian textile Industry and the apparel market exercising some latest trends to keep abreast with the global market trends is a welcome move. However, the players in the domestic market have to take a somewhat longer view. The pricing pressures will continue in the coming years but there is a very steady rise in demand across all product categories and this trend will continue. Equally interestingly, the demand growth is very evenly spread across the length and breadth of India, and is strong both in urban as well as rural centres. Such is the strength of the underlying current of domestic demand growth that by the end of the next decade, the domestic market for textiles and clothing should easily cross US$ 140 Billion in size, up from the current US$ 58 Billion, and 7 times more than the US$ 20 Billion it was in 2001.[14]

Also the kind of empirical effect the ecommerce trend has on the global way of textile industries, it is to be admitted that globally apparels are the number one product which is sold online. There are many exciting ways of positive implications on the traditional textile business with the presence of the ecommerce trends.

A portal with the abreast technology by name Haptics, is leveraging the ecommerce to a next level to the textile industries, by supporting their consumers experience the touch & feel of the fabrics, thru their smart gadgets. Also there is advancements which is possible towards virtual trail rooms, and advanced analytics which will enable brands to push their products more vividly in the online platform and “curate” a collection of styles and colors very specifically for each customer so as to make her / his decision taking far easier compared to what the most traditional retailer can offer today.

If the trend continues to move in the same patterns, it is certain that some of the most iconic brands of the Indian retailers could switch to ecommerce mode of operations rather than the brick & mortar way of doing business. The kind of online portals which are foraying in to the ecommerce mode of apparel selling business, i.e companies directly leveraging the customer base without much of intermediaries is a lucrative proposal for the growth of the industry margins.

When we purview all the pro’s of the aspects few of the below mentioned statistics also reveal the other side of the act, comparatively many companies are not keen on foraying in to the ecommerce trends, or few companies have their own perceptional issues with the success factor of such a move.

Few of the earlier researches which has worked upon the effectiveness of ecommerce trends on the textile industry has supported us with valuable inputs of the statistics from this industry.

The research indicates that majority of the textile companies have their market presence in more than one e-market. As indicated by the research studies, only 52 percent of respondents responded with a positive impact from the e-markets, reflecting the fact there is a lot more scope to improve. However, 72 percent of respondents agreed that e-markets increased their business opportunities, 52 percent respondents said it increased distribution channels, 60 percent noted it increased exposure of their company and 64 percent of respondents indicated that they provided more transparent competition.[15]

The outcome of the research paper reflects that “To have an effective e-market site managers and marketers need to provide a critical mass of accurate up-to-date knowledgeable information. Moreover, e-markets need to establish trust with prospective buyers and sellers. “Community message boards” are important because they provide members opportunities to exchange all kinds of information on the e-market, thus building trust among each other.”

When we consider the conditions of both pharma & Textile sector, there is a kind of gap which is emphasized and which needs immediate attention in order to ensure that the companies keep abreast with the changing global trends, and compete to the standards of international offerings.

Pertaining to the given conditions, the insight what we could get out of the analysis of both the industry verticals is that there is no appropriate guidance towards the establishment of ecommerce and how the companies can get benefited on the role of an ecommerce.

Secondary factor is despite the fact that pharma and Textile MSME’s are big buckets, when we have a look at the micro presence of these companies, majority of them are still not in high financial leverage to create their ecommerce presence. Pairing the insight is not about the leverage for creating ecommerce presence, but lacking the skill set in the resources engaged in the day-day business operations at the floor level and the resistance to change to ecommerce implementation also could be a signifying factor.

The other dimension, which is needed to be pondered, is how these companies can be supported by the external bodies that can create a empirical study of their needs and provide them the assistance to have ecommerce services deployment, educate the resources and also some kind of subsidies or support from the government or the association bodies shall intently support this companies.

Keeping in purview of all the above discussed, the following questionnaire has been prepared to be distributed to respondents from varied MSME segments and correlate the data for further interpretation. A close ended questionnaire has been prepared based on the insights from the above mentioned industrial case analysis, and the questionnaire has been circulated to the management of few MSME’s to understand their thoughts and factors pertaining to the ecommerce implementation.

The respondents data will be correlated and shall be interpreted for further analysis and understand how the effective implementation of ecommerce can be taken up in the MSME sector, which is a significant contributor for Indian Economy.

Quantitative Insights

The responses from many of the participants who took part in the survey from our network of MSME’s, has given us valuable insights and has supported us with pragmatic inputs which is signifying the kind of barriers which the MSME’s are facing in their business operations towards the implementation of ecommerce.

When we have sent the questionnaire to the prospective, 80% of the prospective respondents responded back with their inputs, and the compilation reflects the facts that more than 70% of the respondents are very positive and are keen on implementing the ecommerce trends in to their business model.

The other significance which Indian MSME sector is sending as a positive sign is that majority of the responding companies are looking forward to the implementation of ecommerce as a part of their Business Expansion Plan. Also, many of the respondents felt that ecommerce could be a good arm for them to battle the competition, and the one more interesting insight is that very minimum number of respondents (3%) only responded that their customer base is the reason for implementing the ecommerce trend.

In a critical analysis of the same, is it time to understand that ecommerce has become a push market in to the customers mind or is it the demand from the customers to opt for the companies with ecommerce trends. Probably this has only given a scope for further research in this dimension.

And the other very critical factor which the respondents from MSME’s revealed is that majority of them (95% of Respondents) has no clue on the government Initiatives towards the use of ICT in MSME and the way they can receive grants and subsidies for the same. Probably now some futuristic ecommerce companies, should work hand-in-glove mode with the authorities and the MSME industry bodies, and ensure that the appropriate capitalization of ecommerce trend can be set up in the MSME sector.

Conclusions

There is plethora of opportunities for the ecommerce implementation in the Indian MSME segment, whereas there is an extensive need for initiatives from the MSME bodies and the other counterparts, to ensure that adequate support is provided to the MSMEs.

 The other factor, which needs and effective role out is, to understand how the MSME’s can be assisted with the ICT initiatives of the Government, and support the companies with financial aid and subsidies, in order to encourage them for implementing ecommerce standards towards addressing global challenges.

Any Industrial vertical of Indian MSME’s has typically the same kind of concern, about the need for technological expertise; hence forth focus is important on empowering the human resources of MSME sector, in way of organizing Skill Development programs.

Also the research reveals a new dimension of thought process for further scope of research, as to whether Indian ecommerce market is a Push market or a Pull Market.

Recommendations

Initiatives in the way of conducting organized workshops, to brief the scope of ecommerce implementation in varied Industrial verticals. This can be conducted by the MSME bodies as Chapters for various locations.

As furtherance to the same, professional courses can be organized to every MSME industry and a associate firm can be tagged for end-end implementation support.

Though there is an unprecedented growth in MSME, the ICT initiatives of the government are not keen to many MSME’s across the country. In such a note the very fact of government initiatives go unfruitful. A vivid mechanism of public promotion schemes have to be used both online and offline to relate the initiatives and make the companies benefit from the initiatives.

Certified courses in ecommerce platform are still a concern. Specialized courses which enable the generation with skill set for ecommerce path is to be initiated by Universities and lead institutions, else despite of having huge talent pool, we might have to depend on overseas market for resourceful ecommerce deployments.

References

[1] Seybold, Pat (2001). Customers.com. Crown Business Books (Random House). ISBN 0-609-60772-3.

[2] , Roger (2002). The Legal and E-Commerce Environment Today (Hardcover ed.)

[3] Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-06-14/services-apps/29656529_1_e-commerce-alibaba-com-small-businesses

[4] Kalakota, R. and Whinston, A. Electronic Commerce: A Manager’s Guide, Addison-Wesley: Reading, MA, 1997.

[5] Dutta, S. and Evrard, P. "Information Technology and Organisation within European Small Enterprises," European Management Journal (17:30), 1999

[6] Kaynak, E., Tatoglu, E. and Kula, V. "An Analysis of the Factors Affecting the Adoption of Electronic Commerce by SMEs: Evidence from an Emerging Market," International Marketing Review (22:6), 2005, pp. 623-640

[7] Ahmed, A., Zairi, M., and Alwabel, S. "Globle Benchmarking for Internet and E-commerce Applications," Benchmarking: An International Journal (13:1/2), 2006, pp. 68-80

[8]Brynjolfsson, E., and Hitt, L. "Beyond the Productivity Paradox: Computers are the Catalyst for Bigger Changes," Communications of the ACM (41:8), 1998, pp. 49-56.

[9]http://www.smallenterpriseindia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=40&Itemid=68

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