NAAPTOL REVIEW
NAAPTOL REVIEW – Naaptol.com,a b2c based e commerce platform that looks like a cross between amazon and taobao.It has the same “multi online store” concept like taoabo,and works on a similar principle of sourcing goods from local dealers at various parts of the country and reselling them via online payment,COD or cheque from a base hub in a metropolis.
How it differs from taobao
Under the scheme of things,naaptol appears to be large impex entity that sources low end elctronics and consumerables from china in FCL form.Bulk purchases through online wholesale agents (im thinking alibaba),and then flooding our local market with this produce.So besides their local agents and stores, most of thier gadgets,gizmos,mobile phones and laptops come from china, which is pretty evident from the newspaper adverts and pictures that showcase across “Mumbai Mirror” every other day. That being said, there are two important deductions that we can draw from this.
1.Profit margins are low, the company is pushing hard to get numbers
2.We can expect a fair amount of defective goods that come in each import consignment, therefore we can expect a share of unhappy shoppers
The good
Unbeliveable offers on mobile phones and accessories.Get your hands on PDAs,smartphones,Blackberry,other android based phones,and digital camcorders.
Almost all the imported products are a steal,since these items have to be offloaded at near death speed,in order to generate quick cash,and since they are bought at wholesale markets in the east,the concept of fast retail has to be taken advantage of by us,the shoppers. Id go as far as saying naaptol has had a spate of powerful investing to get inbound containers full of produce,and as a result,no other e commerce hub can match prices on imported commodities like they do.
The bad
Mass imports always has a few drawbacks,the most common ones being defective products, and damaged goods.Other common areas of fault are delays in delivery, since naaptol has a common hub and uses courier services to reach customers in smaller two and three tier smaller towns, deliveries take more than the stipulated 7 days to reach customers.Also some other common complaints are of a lack of non centralized support center,with just one contact number to register queries and complaints on.
The ugly
Browsing consumer forums and online consumer courts online, might deter any first time customer buying from naaptol,since the forums are filled with hate messages and bitter comments by irate customers narrating their forgettable tryst with the vendor, but that is what consumer “complaint” forums are for arnt they?,but the number of posts was astounding,and really paints a bad picture,and almost defaces the website.
Look at it one way or the other,online retail is nascent in India,and naaptol has managed to tap 768 corores in 18 months,which is more than a modest mention for a conservative online purchase population. Naaptol’s success has spun some more shopping websites in the last few months:
Other Indian shopping websites
Indiavarta
Shopbindass
Ishopd
Pricesbolo
Storecoin
tolmol
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