Online business has been developing very well in the
Westernized World and it is going to stay there. Traditional Eastern sector of
the World is much larger than the Westernized masses, indicating a huge
potential for growth of online business. It is an optimistic view but not the
realistic one.
Online business needs more trust between sellers and buyers
than that needed for traditional direct transactions. Therefore, it is not the
population, potential or possibility of the market that matters for growth of
online business but it is the mutual trust between buyers and sellers that
works in online transactions.
Business people of the Western World have proved themselves
fit for reliability, hence they are reaping good harvests on entering business
online. This is not the case in the Eastern sector of the World which is highly
segmented, hence need be understood segment-wise.
First level of segmentation is urban-rural, wherein rural
segment, making about 60 percent of total Eastern market size, is totally blind
for developing online business. Online business community has been very
realistic in keeping this segment out of their view of the market, so far.
Second level of segmentation is born out of economic levels
of people with vast diversity. About 30 percent of urbanized population
comprised mainly of business-people, government employees and employed in the
West or in prosperous Middle-East countries, have easy-going lifestyles for
being richer than the rest of the population, hence make the real potential for
developing online business. For various reasons like easily earned money
(Government employees), being too-much busy in their routines
(business-people), having rich inheritance, etc this segment hardly bothers for
even trust-worthiness of businesspersons they deal with. They even don’t mind
if cheated in some transactions for their consideration of cheating being a
part of human life.
In some Asian countries with thick population density, like
India, even rich-urbanized segment makes a huge market for initial growth of
online business, but is not going to be enough forever. Saturation would become
visible sooner than that may be expected now. It is therefore needed right now
to understand what blocks the way of online-business growth into other segments
of human population. For this study ahead, the focus would be on India as
representative of the Eastern World.
Coming back to trustworthiness of businesspeople, it is in
for dipping deeper than already existing low level. Since growth of
business-houses has been through illicit supports of politicians in power,
character of politicians has been inspiring them to be likewise. I take up a
direct experience of mine to exemplify my above-said viewpoint. My friend in
USA suffered some inconvenience in her online connectivity due to renovation
work in that area by the service providing Company. To compensate for the
inconvenience, the Company offered discounted rates for two months for their
services to all their customers in the area. In India, I have been a customer
of Jio Digital Life for about a year. Through my four recharges during this
period, I have been paying for unlimited voice calls but not even a single
voice-call has been materialized through their networking service for which I
subscribe to Vodafone service which works only after my reaching rooftop of my
home. I reported this matter to Prime Minister’s Office in February 2018 for
their blind support to Jio, they forwarded my complaint to Bombay office of
Jio. A Jio representative spoke to me assuring improvement in their services
soon, but the status of service remains the same even today. How can I ever
trust Jio people in my life.
In India, though no business sector can be said to be
working reliably, Mobile Phone services, Medicinal and Health products, and
Dairy Derivatives are the worst hit sectors by character crisis in
businesspeople of the country. These products and services are available in
acceptable quality only for super-rich customers who don’t bother for
price-tags. Whole population can’t be that way, hence the crisis of
trustworthiness is going to stay forever blocking expected growth of online
business.
It is for warning the individuals relying on growth of
online business, that they must be well-prepared with an alternative much
before the said saturation in online business hits them.
