CLICK
The amazing story of India’s ecommerce boom and where its headed
The world has come a long way from traditional modes of doing business. This age is not about who has more financial muscle, or who has been around longer. The future is going to be driven by people with ideas and early movers with the gumption to move in the right direction at the right time. These are the people and organizations to watch out for.
Click! The amazing story of India’s ecommerce boom and where it is headed, is India’s first book on the ecommerce sector and its various nuances, including the key players. Taking into account the recent rumblings that have shaken the industry – from competitive pricing and discount wars to devaluation of former star companies, and new and stringent governmental regulations – Click! provides a long view of where the industry is headed and presents an incisive vision of it that is both inspirational and cautionary.
(Extracted from Part 2: The Game Changers (The Red Bus story)
While Naveen Tewari and his team were busy setting up mKhoj (later to be christened InMobi), a young man in Bangalore decided to leave his job and start a travel company. This too would be an online travel company, in the mould of MakeMyTrip. However, there was a difference. Whereas Deep Kalra and his band of mavericks were focused on air travel, Phanindra Sama had his eyes set on bus travel, an area that neither MakeMyTrip nor other players like Yatra and Cleartrip had carved out as their own. Like Kalra of MakeMyTrip and Tewari of InMobi, Sama, too, understood the value of having a bunch of creative and passionate co-founders alongside him. Together, they decided to create a company that would change the way road bookings were done. This is the story of a bunch of young men led by a visionary leader who didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.
All hell broke loose as soon as he switched on his cellphone. The flight from London had barely touched down at Bangalore and Phanindra Sama was completely unprepared for the chaos that awaited him at the Domlur headquarters of redBus. The amicable team he had left behind him only ten days ago was now baying for his blood and his image of being ‘the nicest man’ in the start-up space appeared to have been completely shattered. This was the state of affairs at redBus in August 2013, just two months after Sama had sold his brainchild to Ibibo. Yet, it had been an entirely different scenario when he, along with two co-founders, had created redBus seven years ago.
This section mainly includes Q&A on the book. Some questions however may be about the author too. In case you have any queries that are not covered here, you are welcome to write to Jagmohan Bhanver on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Alternatively, you may write to him at jagmohan.bhanver@iifmonline.com
What is the theme of the book, Click! The amazing story of India’s ecommerce boom and where it is headed?
Click! The amazing story of India’s ecommerce boom and where it is headed is the first definitive book on the ecommerce sector in India. It covers the backdrop to the development of the ecommerce sector, the factors that contributed to its growth, the key players and the book also takes a crystal-ball view to what the future portends or this industry
How is this book different from other books in the same genre?
Firstly, this is the first and the most detailed volume on the ecommerce sector in India. Secondly, the book has been written by authors who are coaches and mentors to several of the leading start-up founders in the industry, thereby giving them an edge when it comes to knowing what is transpiring in the sector. Further, the detailed interviews undertaken by the authors and their team with more than 200 companies and their founders provides an almost real-time feel to the entire book, as you go through the stories of some of the most iconic ecommerce start-ups in India.
Is this book still relevant considering that it was written a few years ago?
The defining feature of this book is that the analysis and majority of the predictions by the authors have come to fruition over the years since the book was written. In that sense, the book moves into the category of a classic in its genre.
How is the book structured?
The book starts with a Prologue that successfully sets the tone for paradigm shifts and innovation.
The Prologue is followed by three major sections viz, The Playground, The Game Changers, and The Battleground. The Playground section addresses the changing face of ecommerce in India. The section on Game Changers covers in-depth the fascinating stories of 8 of the most iconic ecommerce companies in India. The third section titles The Battleground goes into detail in an attempt to decode the online war in the industry, and in predicting the unpredictable.
At the end comes the Epilogue, where the authors paint a magnificent picture of what might happen in the future as the ecommerce sector evolves into unimaginable directions.
How long did it take you to write Click! The amazing story of India’s ecommerce boom and where it is headed?
The research, interviews, and discussions with founders, investors, and the various stakeholders involved in the industry took close to two years. The writing and editing took another six months.
Would you like it if readers want to be in touch with you or would that be considered an invasion of your privacy?
Well, I love interacting with people. This was one of the main reasons I left a lucrative banking career a decade back. The idea was to have more time and freedom to interact with people, without having any specific agenda in mind.
I would therefore be very happy to interact with people on any of the social media platforms where I am present. The preferable ones would be Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.