“Willing to adopt e-commerce but scared of fraud”

Second Generation Entrepreneur

Poonam Srivastava, a 23 year old commerce graduate, has been running a pharmacy along with her uncle for about a couple of years now.

‘Shree Shyam Medical’ has been a trusted name in their neighbourhood. Business has been steady and Poonam plans to accelerate its growth. She has a keen interest in digital platforms and wants to launch their Facebook page and even partner with e-commerce companies in the future.

They file taxes every year, have all the relevant documents needed to avail a loan if they want to and accept payments on Paytm, PhonePe, UPI and Google Pay.

“I am willing to take the business digital but stories of fraud that happen on e-commerce platforms deter me from taking the plunge.”

Trust issues with e-commerce

While she is optimistic about her business benefiting from social media presence, lack of quality control is a big hurdle for her. She has heard about e-commerce companies delivering empty packages and would not want her business’s reputation to suffer in any form.

“A friend of mine had ordered a smartphone and got pebbles instead. He left a very bad review for the seller even though he had no role to play in the failed delivery.”

She has read about similar incidents on social media. Delivery boys running away with packages or giving damaged/expired products to customers. With the kind of business they are in, she cannot afford such mistakes as people’s health is at stake. One such incident can ruin year’s of hard work that has gone into building a brand image in the market. Precisely why she wants to be very sure before going digital.

“The reason I like being in the shop is because I really care about this business. I want to grow but not at the expense of the goodwill my father and uncle have built over the years.”

Merchants of India is an Insights Series from IDfy to help India discover its merchants.

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