Big Bazaar Takes The Online Route

Kishore Biyani’s Future Group has been dreaming big and it is tough to ignore the extensive media coverage that they are receiving. Future Bazaar, their online venture has not created enough buzz as yet, but could very well go on to be a permanent fixture in the Indian online marketplace.

To start with, Future Bazaar’s tag line sounds like a rip-off of the popular one used by Walmart. It says “Lowest Prices – Everyday” as against “Always Low Prices” used by Walmart. Future Bazaar intends to be a one-stop shop and currently features products like Cameras, Computers, Books, Mobiles and Consumer Durables. I am surprised to see some really high-end products (costing more than Rs. 1 lakh) like laptops and Plasma TVs being listed on the site. Customers who intend to buy such expensive goods are more likely to visit the stores rather than order online.

One of the main reasons for this post is the book shopping facility offered by Future Bazaar. I thought it would be a natural extension of my earlier post on book shopping which receives a large number of hits through search engines.

Nothing much has changed since I wrote the last post. Prakash Books and Indiatimes still offer the best prices. Landmark offers the largest range. Fabmall claims to offer a large range, but would fall short of Landmark.

Future Bazaar’s book collection is not impressive. It has about 100 titles listed under it. It promises 20 – 30% discount on its entire range. If Future Bazaar ramps up its collection, it could very well establish a name for itself in the book retailing industry.

Text Book

Another interesting development is taking place in the book retailing industry. Oxford Bookstore has launched an SMS Alert service whereby customers are alerted about new launches and best sellers. I’m not sure whether people can order by responding to the SMS alert. With the rapid growth in mobile penetration, it would be interesting to see the impact of this move.