Adobe India has launched its online store at shop.adobe.com/in where users can buy Adobe software. The titles are available as digital downloads and payments can me made in Indian currency. Most Adobe software are available as full copy or upgrades if you have a previous version. The Adobe Creative Suite 6 (CS6) is also available for pre order on the store. Adobe plans to launch sale of physical products (software on CD, DVD etc.) in the near future as downloads can be pretty heavy for many users in india owing to low internet speeds.
After about a year, Croma has finally launched its online store today at cromaretail.com. The Tata group backed electronics megastore chain aims to establish an online presence in the emerging Indian ecommerce market. However, a quick glance at the store reveals that most products are available at MRP or with little or no discounts. This is another example of companies assuming an ecommerce portal as merely another channel for selling items as opposed to looking at it as a potential channel for massive sales if they offer products at attractive prices. Moreover, limited products are available on the site which will make excited new customers unhappy in my opinion. Hopefully things should improve going forward.
Popular electronics & home appliance retailer Vijay Sales has also launched it online store in India today at vijaysales.com. The store offers limited inventory just like croma. However, prices are competitive and Vijay Sales seems to be offering some discount on the MRP. Unfortunately, many of the items are out of stock on the store making this launch a total flop (WTF?). I am not sure why they felt the need to launch the store when they did not have enough stock. Perhaps they succumbed to peer pressure from Croma? Vijay Sales informed us in a tweet that their online store is live since January 2012. Very well. But it would be great if they can stock up their warehouses.
