It’s true…Essential things delivered to home is fast becoming a part of daily life in India as well as in other parts of the world. Especially since the lockdown was imposed in the March of 2019, buying things online and their being delivered at our doorsteps has fast emerged as a new trend.
When it started, it was due to the fear of being apprehended by the police for violating the lockdown or of getting into the crowd and exposing ourselves to the danger of catching Covid-2019. But since the WHO and the media having explicitly told the masses about getting into the habit of living with the pandemic, people started changing their lifestyle. They were bound to. So they did.
As a result, now it is very common to see the delivery boys of Zomato and Swiggy, and couriers from Blue dart, Amazon, Flipkart, 1mg, etc reaching out everywhere in India. Almost every week a parcel from one of the e-commerce majors arrive if not to your address, then to your neighbor’s. That was not the case before.
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Tuesday18 March 2025
We get a more perfect picture of the situation from the fact that in January 2020 the global visits to e-commerce sites were marked at 16.07 billion. By the time it is June, this traffic increased to 22 billion. This trend is sure to continue in view of the fact that the new corona virus strains are doing their rounds in country after country, and also other diseases like black, white, yellow, etc fungi coming up.
The new lifestyle that is introduced in the wake of the pandemic is another big reason why people are forced to order things online. Take, for instance, the work from home for the professionals and online classes for the students. There are certainly reasons for thinking that these new trends are not temporary but are right on their way to become a norm. These are going to be the part of our professional and educational life.
This has produced a specific mindset. Again, it’s bound to. And this mindset has to do with forming a habit of doing things in the freedom of home. You cannot even imagine it in offline workplaces and educational institutions.
The businesses know better how it benefits them. As for the commonalty, it’s clear as crystal for them. Many and many don’t like to go out of their houses anymore. Their likes and dislikes apart, there are certain advantages inherent in getting things done at home and having things delivered to their doorsteps. These advantages are to be found in time and money management.
Experienced buyers know very well in what time they need their things supplied to them, keeping one eye on how long the stock they currently have will last. Accordingly, they order things online.
But, the problem is that the surge in consumer demand has reached such a level that it has thrown up a new challenge before the online retailers. Delivery DOES get delayed at some time. Sometime it so happens that some of the things get damaged in transit and it is a lot of bother to have them replaced. The online retailers have still to do a lot to mend their logistics for remote areas of the country. Availability of items is not a major issue with online retailers but, at times, consumers do have to come up with it.
The other advantage we were talking about was the cost-effectiveness of online transactions. This is certainly one of the most important aspects of all. You not only have a fabulously wide range of choices available; you also have the benefit of big discounts that you surely don’t get if you shop offline. And most of the e-commerce businesses are vying with one another with promotional tactics like Deal of the Day or Today’s Deal. Because of such deals, often buyers get more than 50% discount on things.
They also have the choice of comparing prices on different platforms. And all this takes very little time. If they are to go shopping in the old and traditional way, it would take almost half of their day. That is the reason why in past people used to spare one day for shopping. Now, in the time of online shopping, you can do it at any time in no time. That’s the whole point of online buying.
Finally, joy is becoming rarer and rarer to get. People live a stressed life and they want to get rid of it at times. This opportunity is provided by the weekends and Sundays. People want to enjoy not doing anything…Spending half a day in cooking and half a day in cleaning is an old small idea. The new big idea is to order the best and most palatable dishes at home, and spend time in suitable pastime by the time the delivery boy arrives with a parcel.
The point is, home delivery is itself a part and parcel of the present time. It is the need of the time, not a luxury. Therefore, we are not going to part with the manifold benefits it offers.
