HOW CAN E-COMMERCE REFINE THE LIFE OF INDIAN TRIBES?
As we all know, the business was costly before e-commerce. Business involved a large amount of capital without the guarantee of success.
Today, as anyone can start small, the business is not that complicated. You don’t need to build a brick or any huge capital for that matter, you can sell the products online which makes the huge capital or physical store unnecessary. All you need is an idea and will to the further action.
Of course, there’s a technical part, and that’s when e-commerce comes in. E-commerce makes it easier. There are a lot of services to manage any e-commerce, some of which are paid and some are free.
Kate Rosier said, “From tribal lending to selling tribal and Native goods and services, E-commerce is the future for successful tribal economies”.
What is E-commerce?
Ecommerce is characterized as the electronic purchasing and sale of products over the internet. It is well-known due to the various advantages of e-business — internet marketing, electronic funds transfer, and mobile commerce — and is divided into two sections.
-Mobile applications, blogs, and even voice assistants, chats, and chatbots are all examples of online retail shopping that goes directly to customers.
-Sellers who operate in online marketplaces where a lot of third-party purchases take place.
E-commerce stands for electronic commerce. A type of business model, or a subset of a larger business model, that allows a person to conduct business over an electronic network, most commonly the internet without involving any paperwork. Business to business, business to consumer, consumer to consumer, and consumer to business are the four main market categories in which electronic commerce operates. It can be thought of as a more sophisticated version of catalog-based mail-order shopping. Ecommerce can be used to sell almost any product or service, from books and music to financial services and plane tickets.
Advantages of E-commerce
1. Faster buying process
2. Store and product listing creation
3. Cost reduction
4. Affordable advertising and marketing
5. Flexibility for customers
6. No reach limitations
7. Product and price comparison
8. Faster response to buyer/market demands
9. Several payment modes
In India, the internet generated a new world for organizations and people to expand the availability of tribal products across the world. There are a lot of channels that are being utilized in such a way the handcrafted, tribal products find a larger audience in just a single click.
The purpose of these e-commerce arrangements is to make the people who made the products independent and to increase employment amongst them. Besides that, it also helps to ensure that the buyers find this method easy and useful and they can get the products at their doorstep.
The tribals that haven’t even heard anything about e-commerce are now selling their handmade products online. This includes Amazon, MYntra, Flip cart, Government e-Marketplace to meet the lockdown slums presently operated by The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFTED), etc.
The TRIFED provided financial assistance to tribals who were having financial difficulties as a result of their goods not being sold during the lockdown and subsequent market downturn. It sold its goods on Amazon, Flipkart, and GeM, among other e-commerce platforms (Government e-Marketplace). It also gave a significant discount to promote the goods and clear out the overstock.
E-commerce has been critical to tribal economies, especially for remote tribes that aren’t close to major population centers, making it “difficult to gain agglomerative benefits to boost economic conditions.”
Dr. Trevan makes three suggestions in the report for tribes to completely reap the benefits of e-commerce:
- First, policymakers must prioritize higher education to ensure that the human capital required to run e-commerce businesses is accessible.
- Tribes should work with local businesses and government agencies to develop and execute an e-commerce strategy that supports local ecosystems and generates employment and revenue; and
- Tribal nations should exercise their “sovereignty” and “competitive advantages,” according to the report.
As compared to pre-lockdown order volume, India’s e-commerce industry has recovered by over 90%. By the end of June, the e-commerce industry is expected to completely recover and reclaim its pre-lockdown order volume.
“The sector has not only recovered its pent-up volume but has also shown great progress, with total order volume up over 45 percent from pre-lockdown levels,” said the report.
Compared to pre lockdown period the fashion sector has recovered almost 70%. Nightwear and casual home-wear have seen the most interest in this category. A few fashion sub-categories, such as children’s apparel, have seen over 100% growth in the last 15 days compared to pre-lockdown levels.
Why is E-commerce important?
Few Indian reservations have viable economies where residents can be employed, buy goods and services and find quality housing to live comfortably. Reservation residents have to travel to different cities to find banks, livable-wage jobs, higher education, and adequate housing. This condition is disastrous for the development of reservation economies and community stability, as well as for addressing poverty, unemployment, and other problems that Indian nations face. E-commerce offers a promising opportunity for tribal governments, Indian entrepreneurs, and communities to resolve these issues. some people state that government, entrepreneurs, and different tribes should consider using e-commerce to diversify and improve tribal economies.
E-commerce can assist in keeping the currency
Due to the lack of a diverse range of businesses where people can invest their money, Indian reservations quickly lose the money they earn. As a result, the Indian Country loses a large amount of economic activity and jobs. The term “leakage” is used by economists to describe the situation in which capital leaves a local society or economy before it can circulate within it. Tribal governments and reservation-based entrepreneurs may use e-commerce to expand the number of businesses in the Indian Nation.
The “multiplier effect” is a second economic theory that promotes the growth of reservation-based e-commerce. This is the condition in which every dollar invested by one person ends up in the hands of others as benefit and salary. This new individual then spends the one dollar and gives it to someone who will spend it as well. As a result, one dollar “multiplies” in an economy, being pay, benefit, and spending money for a larger number of people as long as the dollar remains in the local economy. Creating more reservation-based companies is the only way for reservation communities to profit from the multiplier effect and keep dollars flowing within their economies.
Development of Tribal e-commerce businesses
Governments are critical in the development of a private, free-market economy. They safeguard the public interest, ensure fair competition, uphold law and order, and develop laws and judicial processes to assist in the enforcement of contracts and property rights. Governments establish and implement laws that guarantee a fair structure that encourages investors to put their money and time into it. For reservation economies, tribal governments play a critical role. By enacting such laws and establishing safe and equitable court systems as well as effective bureaucracies, tribal governments may enable businesses to locate on reservations. Tribes may also use tax and regulatory policies to draw private capital and new companies to reservations.
Status of Village e-commerce
Rural India is seeing an increase in e-commerce as the trend of online shopping has become popular in recent years. The majority of people choose to buy different types of communities and use various online channels to access various services. This practice is not limited to urban areas; it is now widely used in rural areas in India. There is a high penetration of the internet and mobile-friendly individuals in India’s rural areas. Intending to render, India digital on a large scale, the Indian government is leaving no stone unturned in developing optical fiber connectivity between all villages and small towns.
The Indian government’s aim in this regard is to provide people in villages and rural areas of India with access to online services.
India has done a good job of adapting to social media, particularly during the pandemic. Indian users now account for a sizable portion of global social media platforms’ users, and they are a primary target market for these platforms’ expansion. People’s preferences, views, and aspirations are all influenced by social media.
Now, the process of selling goods directly on social media sites such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Instagram is known as social commerce. The sheer number of Facebook buy and sell groups attests to the fact that online socializing and online shopping go together like compatible pairs. India’s e-commerce sector is predicted to hit US$220 billion1 by 2025, with social commerce having the potential to reach US$ 50 billion in terms of GMV.
The influence of merging e-commerce and social media has been seen in China. It has proven to be a powerful platform for reaching underserved customers and providing a cost-effective and convenient way for small and medium-sized businesses to establish an online presence.
Larger companies and brands grappling with mounting consumer acquisition costs and struggling to defend these valuable consumers from rivals wooing them relentlessly with deep discounts have found a cost-effective solution in social commerce.
According to statistical data, internet usage in India has increased to 429.23 million users and is projected to cross about 830 million by the year 2021. India’s internet economy was worth 125 billion dollars in 2017, suggesting a major increase in e-commerce.
One of the most significant benefits of e-commerce for a country like India is its ability to help emerging rural areas leapfrog into the information paradigm. E-commerce is a great forum for improving infrastructure and also for rising employment rates in India and that results in a greater overall effect on the Indian economy’s economic and social growth.
With initiatives like Digital Village providing internet access to more people, the number of internet users is expected to grow even more. This opens up a huge market for e-commerce players, especially in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, as well as rural areas.
E-commerce has flourished as a result of the huge rise in the number of people with internet access.
Contributed By- Vanshika Kukreja, Content Writer at Mitti Ke Rang
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