My precious double-seater sofa in my bedroom has collapsed. Errr, let me correct myself: The left side of the sofa has collapsed (given that I’ve sat on that side for years); whereas the right side looks nice and puffy. ‘In-short’ (don’t laugh at my Hinglish), my sofa looks like it’s an asteroid from Star Wars. And I am in the market to replace it.
Now, when I say “I’m in the market”, I mean the online market. The last thing I want to do is physically run around all over Mumbai in search of the ‘great un-collapsible sofa’.
So let me narrate my experience what I have learnt so far. Note that I am a digital entrepreneur myself, so my findings will be highly opinionated :(.
I typed ‘Sofa’ on Google just to see what came up.
There was a khichdi of sofa images, junglee.com screaming to be clicked as the first link (Junglee is owned by Amazon), links of local sofawalas and other noise. It was not a page that invited a link.
Then I typed “I wanna buy a Sofa” and viola! Lots of interesting links popped up (Junglee was still on top). These were lots of blogs & articles on how to buy a sofa and things to be aware of, etc.! The advice inside was awesome:
Shock #1: There was NO Indian blog talking about Sofas. Now, that’s a pity because I am sure there are many like me who would like to be educated and then go to sites than ‘sofa experts’.
Lesson: Why aren’t Indian e-tailers creating ‘content’ and ‘context’ (articles and blogs) that tell consumers HOW and WHAT to do with what they sell? It would definitely improve conversions as IKEA and Macy’s have successfully achieved in their markets!
As I stumbled and fell, I visited Pepperfry.com, Urbanladder.com and Fabfurnish.com in my quest for buying a sofa. I also opened up IKEA USA just to get a sense of what they were offering!
Shock #2 The first thing that pounded my head like a triple shot migraine when I visited the Indian sites was the MASSIVE effort to ‘sign up’, ‘register’, ‘get on the newsletter’. I felt like a boy who just said ‘hi’ to a girl who immediately produced a marriage contract to be signed before she said ‘hi’ back!!
IKEA has no such ‘e-terror’ tactic. It was a warm, welcoming experience with no pressure to pass through ‘strict immigration control’!
Lesson: Indian Furniture e-com sites must learn to greet visitors and not intimidate them! On the web, greeting is equal to not being disturbed.
The three sites I visited were as different as idli, medu vada and masala dosa.
Shock #3: One of the most hyped sites in the past years had the most confusing categories on the home page. For instance, it listed ‘Furniture’, ‘Décor’ and ‘Furnishings’ as the first three tabs on the home page! I mean what is Décor? Can’t it be explained in a simpler manner?
IKEA on the other hand, started with ‘Living Room’, ‘Bedroom’ and ‘Kids Room’!
Yeah! I’m looking for some stuff for my Bedroom and that just sounded perfect!
Lesson: Indian e-tailers should use COMMON SENSE when describing what they are selling and not the advice of some 23.5 year old kid who thinks “SEO” (Search Engine Optimization) tricks are what should be used to describe website navigation!
Shock #4: Save for one, it seemed that the other two Indian sites were selling discounts, not furniture! Wherever I looked, there were these huge ‘x % off’ signs screaming at me – as if the business was going belly-up!
There were NO sales/discounts/take-it-all-away signs on IKEA. Instead, the space was used for articles such as “ideas on how to place furniture” which added so much more value!
Lesson: Indian e-tailers should sell goods, not discounts. That cheapens them almost instantly.
Surprise #1: Amidst the gloom, what really caught my attention on one Indian site was that they offer an option to “try our furniture”! Now that buzzed me and I double-checked to make sure it meant what it said.
Lo and behold, the site promises to send single-seaters of the furniture you choose to your house (for free) to check it out! I signed up for one instantly!
Lesson: Indian e-tailers like this one can redefine and re-shape e-commerce if they stick to being themselves, being sensible and pretending to ‘play consumer’ rather than play ‘dotcom copycat’ to succeed!
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