Just about 10 years ago, at a time when in-store purchases still dominated retail sales, some sceptics believed that e-commerce was just hype and the bubble would burst anytime. 10 years later, the bubble only seems to be getting bigger. Worldwide e-commerce sales was   estimated at USD 1672 million in 2015,  and is expected to cross USD 1672 million in 2019. Alibaba, an online marketplace, claims to have over 300 million customers. Amazon’s annual revenue is over $67 billion, Apple made over $ 10 billion in revenues in online sales. Even brick and mortar stores like Walmart, and Staples clock annual revenues of over $10 billion just in online sales, according to a report on  Insider Monkey. E-commerce now seems to be dominated by some large players who control a major share of the online market. Now, how can smaller online retailers compete with the big guys? Here’s a list of branding strategies for smaller e-commerce businesses: #1 Money back gua...

ANALYSIS There was a time when we would fall in love with a pair of trendy boots or a pretty dress in the window of a shop and then buy them. In the age of online shopping, product discovery portals have become the new ‘store windows’. Neena Sukumar, a 25-year-old Bengaluru-based techie, is an avid follower of fashion trends. But her busy schedule keeps her away from stores. She found Wooplr, a social discovery app which focuses on fashion and lifestyle, a few months ago. Every day, the app’s posts show new styles and products from various online and offline stores. “I check out the posts on Wooplr every other day. It has products of all price ranges and brands, and I get to know the cost and availability on the same platform,” she says. She even gets suggestions on how to put a look together on Wooplr. If e-commerce brought shoppers to the Internet, online product discovery platforms are changing the way they shop online. Thanks to increasing Internet penetration and risin...