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It is not just electronic goods and fashion accessories that are becoming a rage online but also industrial products, finds eHypermart, the online market place promoted by Essar Steel.
The one-year-old B2B portal promoted by Essar Steel has seen sales of ₹90 crore in the last three months and expects sales to touch ₹100 crore a month in the second quarter of this fiscal with the pick up in construction activity across the country.
The innovative online market place sells industrial and infrastructure-related products, including steel variants and products such as hot and cold rolled coils, colour coated products, galvanised steel, gears, and clutch parts. The site offers discounts of up to 20 per cent on most products.
Ravi Singh, CEO of Hypermart, said: “It is really heartening to see people buying steel from Essar and delivering value-added products on our own platform”.
Last month, the portal recorded highest-ever delivery of 6,500 tonnes rebar and it is expected to cross 10,000 tonnes soon. Going by the current trend, the company will cross the annual sales target of ₹500 crore by a big margin, he said.
“We have seen most of the demand for steel products coming from north, west and central India, while the southern and eastern states are still lagging,” he said.
Ironing out challengesPutting the final price of a product on an online platform is one of the key challenges most companies face. There are many people who see the price on the online platform and negotiate with the company for a discount offline, he said.
Unlike other e-commerce players, it is impossible to offer ‘cash on delivery’ and to have a policy for rejection of delivery for steel as the expenses incurred will be huge. Moreover, companies are reluctant to expose their final product price on a website which can be accessed by the competitors, consumers and vendors alike.
“When you sell a branded shirt on e-platform the margin is over 75 per cent, while in industrial products the average normal margin is 7-20 per cent so companies are hesitant to reveal their final prices,” said Singh.
To work around this shortcoming, the portal has created a dialogue box where the buyer can express his intention to have private discussion to negotiate prices offline, said Singh.
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