NEW DELHI, January 30: Tied up in a business meeting with a client in Mumbai, you long to be in Delhi by your wife's side on her birthday, with a bouquet of flowers in hand. Don't worry, you can still impress her by simply placing an order for flowers from your desktop over the Internet and having it delivered at her door step.A short-notice hurricane tour of Europe to strike few export deals. And you hit at your trusted travel agent's Web site who offers not only to book your flight tickets but also hotel accommodation at concessional rates.
Never mind, if guests land up at odd hours or after a hard day's work, you don't feel like going all the way to the market to replenish your stock of groceries. You can now have fresh vegetables delivered at home by just clicking at www.bababazar.com or even order a Nirula's pizza or an ice-cream over the Net.
With the slashing of Internet access rates and private Internet service providers slated to start operation soon, the market for providing Web-basedservices is slated for a take-off. And it is only imagination and resourcefulness (rather lack of it) which limits the use of Internet for offering newer services. Some enterprising small businessmen have started offering various services at the click of few buttons but there is still a lot which remains to be tapped.
"Internet offers one of the most cost-effective ways to reach large potential customer base with relatively small cost compared to traditional advertising and promotional methods," says Pradipt Kapoor of Webworth Services, Delhi, an Internet solutions provider. And this gives a level playing field especially for the smaller players to leverage on their strengths of lower overheads and faster response time.
Explaining the advantage of Internet as an advertising and marketing media, Ajit Balakrishnan of Rediff-on-Net says, "Apart from an absolute cost (of making and updating a web site), the per unit cost of reaching out to prospective customer is very low."
Adds Kapoor, "Unlike televisionor print advertising, it isn't a matter of who can afford the largest ad or advertise most frequently. The real question for any entrepreneur is, can you get enough people to come to your Web site to generate adequate business."
While rates of independent website designers vary from Rs 20,000 to over Rs 1 lakh, depending on content and number of pages, an effective way for small businesses to mark their web presence is to go for industry specific directories, which cost between Rs 750 to Rs 3,000 per page, say experts.
Listing service in the internet usually costs Rs 2,500 to Rs 10,000 per annum. "Listing services are usually charged on a page-basis," says K V Nilkantham of The Indian Express Online Media Ltd, one of the early birds in the field of online advertising, with more than 1.8 million hits per day.
With domestic surfers being in the region of 60,000, not surprisingly it has been the exporters who have logged on to the Net to get a global presence.
Nilkantham believes that given its obviouscost advantages over other media, Internet can get exporters a good volume of consignments with out large amount of expenditure.
With access set to leapfrog in the coming months, it will be the domestic business which will reap the benefit, say experts. If the private access providers come in as planned in a few months time, Ajit Balakrishnan expects the domestic market for Internet-based services to increase by over 50 per cent before the end of the year.
To start with the most visible impact of Internet-based services would be in the field of financial and retail segment, feels B J Garner, professor of computing at Deakin University, Australia. "In Australia, a lot of travel agencies have gone on the Net while retail services based on providing goods and services at home are much in demand." India too would follow a similar trend, feels Garner.
While Internet will create a shake-out in the channel or distribution mode, those who will provide specialised services will have an edge. "Displaced peoplewill move to newer services," says Garner. "Just as fax and STD booths have sprouted, small businesses in India should look towards starting Internet kiosk to provide value-added services."
Online asset management services have caught on in several developed countries and India would be no exception, feels Garner. "With changes in the rule of asset management, personal income managers are much in demand and this is one segment the financial service providers can encash on."
Though not many are making money out of Internet in India, entrepreneurs must look towards being a content provider, feels Nilkantham. Nilkantham, however, does not approve of a rush-job. "It is advisable for entrepreneurs to hold their investment for a period of six months to start an organisation specialising on Web advertising or Web-based services as drastic changes of policies are on card." Though VSNL had reduced its charge for small and individual internet users, experts are expecting some more reduction in the tariff. Thereduction is expected to be implemented in a phased manner. "Once tariffs are made competitive, Internet may well be the biggest business opportunity that has ever happened," says Nilkantham.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
