E-commerce is one of the fastest growing markets globally and nationally. Indian e-commerce market was approximately worth $2.5 billion back in 2009 and it went up to $14 billion in 2014. Business Travel (airline tickets, railway tickets, hotel bookings) is a major part in Indian e-commerce market, holding 75% of the market whereas online retailing (e-tailing) contributes only 12.5%. In Indian Retail Market, online contribution is only 0.47% whereas the global Industry average is 4%, which shows that there is huge potential in this market. Online shoppers in India are growing at a rate of 30% every year as compared to the global growth rate which is 8-10%.
With such a high growth rate and the kind of massive potential there is, a number of new e-commerce stores are entering into the market and expanding quite rapidly. With increasing competition most of the e-commerce stores are using discounted prices and attractive coupons as a tool to attract customers which thereby creates a price war and hence shrinks the margins for business. In a situation of reduced margins where the objective is to provide high level of Customer satisfaction through improved services and to run a sustainable business, proper Operations Management plays a vital role in the success of the business.
Different tasks for Operations Management in e-commerce are
- Product / Service Quality
- Forecasting demand
- Inventory Management
- Scheduling Management
- Purchasing Management
- Supply-Chain Management
- Human Resource Management
- Reengineering and Consulting
