KOLKATA - No one was prepared for
what they encountered on a rain-drenched Sunday
morning mid-August, when officials of eBay India
arrived at the venue to conduct one of eBay
Academy's periodic events and road shows in
Kolkata.
The smallish auditorium was
teeming with people, more than the number of
invitations eBay had sent out and far more than
they had expected to turn out. Against the
expected registrations of 400, there were more
1,000 people, and eBay officials had to organize
two more shifts that day to accommodate everyone.
It wasn't the first time turnout had
exceeded expectations, but nobody expected it to
happen in Kolkata, a city not generally
considered in the
forefront of the high-tech world. Lately, the
academy's sessions in other metropolitan cities
have been experiencing similar enthusiastic
response, said Deepa Thomas, head of
communications for eBay India. "A huge number of
Indians are turning to eBay to make a living."
Admittedly, in just two years since its
entry to India, eBay, the world's largest online
auction site, not only has managed to embed itself
in what its chief executive officer, Meg Whitman,
calls the "Indian consumer's psyche", but is
rewriting the concept of entrepreneurship in
India.
Research just released by eBay
India that was conducted in June by ACNielsen, the
international research firm, with eBay sellers
across the United States, Canada and the
Asia-Pacific region revealed that nearly 31% of
Indian eBay sellers, or 12,800, have taken to
selling on eBay for their primary or secondary
source of income. "Of the other 40,000 eBay
[India] sellers, there are many who are making
serious money too selling on eBay," said Thomas.
Gautam Thakar, country manager of eBay
India, said: "India is a nation of entrepreneurs,
and they are increasingly turning from bricks and
mortar to smart clicks for taking advantage of the
Internet and eBay to find cost-effective and
simple solutions for creating an online business
and accessing more customers." He said that 38% of
the current eBay India sellers have quit their
jobs to sell on eBay.
That India's
increasingly growing 'Net-savvy population is
taking to online shopping almost as a fad is not
exactly new. However, with its "unique business
model" that requires no up-front investment in
infrastructure to start a business, eBay is
perhaps the only one that can claim to have
rekindled the entrepreneurial fire of thousands of
small-time Indian businessmen.
Take Bomi
Rupa, a 23-year-old graduate in computer science
from Troy State University, Alabama, who on his
father's insistence returned to Mumbai three years
ago to look after the family business. "But I
wanted to do something independently," said Rupa.
"Since selling on eBay India didn't require any
investment, I jumped at the opportunity, and have
no regrets whatsoever."
Rupa, who started
by selling computer monitors but soon expanded to
selling computer hardware imported from the US and
Australia, claimed he is "one of the most
sought-after sellers on eBay India today". He also
said his online business has grown 70% in two
years thanks to eBay, which "has become an
international market to eradicate unemployment in
India by opening doors wide for entrepreneurial
opportunities".
But if Bomi Rupa took to
selling on eBay because he didn't like being
"spoon-fed", for Abhishek Agarwal, a Kolkata-based
seller of home tools, leather accessories and
fabrics, eBay meant access to the whole world.
"I never trusted conventional business
paths because of the various drawbacks, and
through eBay my products have found buyers from
all over the world," he said. "I was waiting for
such a concept to hit the Indian market."
eBay hit India in 2004 by investing US$50
million to buy out an Indian clone called
Bazee.com, which reportedly was unable to break
even even after four years of operation.
"While buying online is fairly easy," said
Thomas, "getting people to sell online is a much
tougher job." This is why eBay India had to adopt
a series of measures not only to change over from
the brand name of Bazee to eBay, but also to make
Indians accept the fact that eBay could be used to
make a living as well. For instance, right after
acquiring Bazee.com, eBay India went on a spending
spree to buy visibility.
"Marketing
expenses constitute 10% of our gross," which is
twice the percentage its parent spends, said
Thakar.
But that was just one element.
"The company had to put in an even greater effort
educating e-sellers," said Thomas.
The
eBay Academy thus came into being to educate and
clarify the myths about transacting on the
Internet. The academy conducts training sessions
"across the length and breadth of the nation to
inform its participants about the opportunities,
benefits and processes of selling on eBay India",
said Thomas.
Over the past two years it
has conducted 80 such sessions, training more than
21,000 potential sellers. "Besides, eBay India has
a special section called the Seller Central, which
acts as a source for the latest tips, tools,
information, and resources for selling on eBay,
and recently we have started distributing compact
discs to those who cannot attend the training
sessions," Thomas said.
Consequently, eBay
India today is a 2-million-strong community strung
across 240 towns in India, as thousands of sellers
hawk their wares across 2,500 categories, ranging
from clothes, automobiles, computers and
peripherals to collectibles, services and even
home-made pickles.
External forces also
helped eBay in its efforts. "Following the burst
of innovation in e-commerce during the 1995-2000
phase and the subsequent dotcom bust, we are now
experiencing renewed momentum in the online
business world," said Thakar.
The National
Association of Software Companies, India's
information-technology industry lobby, pegs the
current e-commerce market in the country at more
than $500 million a year. That is up 300% from
2004-05.
However, according to Thakar,
what has really driven Indian entrepreneurs to
eBay India is the fact that it is offers "an
excellent Internet and secure trading
infrastructure free of infrastructure investment
and devoid of middlemen along with the ability to
provide frictionless interaction between buyers
and sellers".
Indeed, said eBay's Meg
Whitman, Internet entrepreneurship in India is
coming of age. She said China, India and Latin
America are the three emerging markets eBay is
focused on, of which India and China are huge
markets with tremendous potential. eBay has to win
these markets so that in five years, or maybe even
10, India and China could command a significant
portion of eBay's overall business.
But
for India particularly, this is a perfect concept,
she said, because it is a nation of small business
and traders. This is why Whitman's team here is
trying to pioneer a whole new market.
Thakar said eBay India's next step will be
to create a platform that would empower the
disabled, elderly and retired citizens of India to
explore entrepreneurial opportunities on eBay.
Thomas said: "eBay is the only platform on
which anybody can start an online business
regardless of geography, categories of products or
financial status, and it is committed to promoting
entrepreneurship in the country."
Indrajit Basu is a Kolkata-based
journalist.
(Copyright 2006 Asia Times
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