The future for online shopping in India is Mobile commerce, said Sulakshan Kumar and Sitakanta Ray, Co-founders of MySmartPrice.com. In an exclusive email interview to SME Times, Sulakshan Kumar said, "Today while most e-commerce sites do have some sort of mobile presence they are not as good as the Desktop option. India's online user base is largely mobile and it is important to have a fully functional mobile site that not only act as a research outlet but also helps users buy online. Indian e commerce companies must device of ways to make payment through mobile more secure as well as improve site functionality online."

Excerpts of the interview

Please tell our readers something about "MySmartPrice.com".
Sulakshan Kumar: MySmartPrice is an online shopping research platform. We help users decide "What to buy" and "Where to buy it from". Our Price comparison engine helps users find the best price of products across all top categories from India's top e-commerce sites. Our Coupons and Deals initiatives help users save big bucks while buying online. Recently we launched fashion@mysmartprice which helps people find the look that best suits them.

What made you start this price-comparison platform?
Sulakshan Kumar:  Sita and I were avid followers of the American e-commerce space and were already excited by the price comparison portals in the US. We had initially started out as a comparison service for books to help college students and avid readers save money on buying books online from e-commerce portals. Gradually we moved into price comparison across all categories. As consumers ourselves we have often found it difficult to search multiple sites to buy a product. Most users may go through 2 or 3 popular sites and often they don't realize just how much they can save on even the most basic purchases. So even as consumers we were convinced of the worth of price comparison.

You started MySmartprice in 2010 and now you are a renowned name in the market of price comparison in just four years, would you like share your success story with our readers?
Sulakshan Kumar: The growth has been gradual yet constant and that is intentional. As a company we have a philosophy of not throwing money at a problem. MySmartPrice has focused on building a strong product and letting the product talk for us rather than engage in high budget marketing that depletes our cash pile. We focused on building traffic through SEO and engage our customers periodically to understand what works for the product. Slowly increasing the categories while improving the quality of the existing product in terms of accuracy.

Considering you and Sitakanta Ray are technology savvy, what are the special features that "MySmartPrice.com" has?
Sulakshan Kumar: MySmartPrice provides users a wide variety of options to help shop online. Our Price Alert function alerts users when a product is priced at the price they set. Our Product pages offer people all the information they need to decide on purchasing a product. Be it specifications, reviews, store feedback, delivery details, variety of products or purchase options such as availability of credit card EMI and Cash on Delivery. We also provide a price graph that helps users decide if there is a chance the price will go further down or if this is the right time to buy. Due to these special features MySmartPrice is perhaps one of the sturdiest price comparison portals in India.

With multiple players coming up among the price comparison portals, how do you handle the competition?
Sulakshan Kumar: We strive to make our site as accurate as possible. We ensure that prices are refreshed on an hourly basis making sure we don't miss those flash sales or sudden drops in prices. We have also integrated coupons to our main site to make sure buyers are getting the best price possible. Apart from making the product as accurate as possible we also ensure that we cover a wide spectrum of categories as well as stores. We have listed products across all top e-commerce categories from books to mobile phones, electronics to appliances and personal care. With over 40 top Indian e-commerce stores we also ensure that users get the best price online.

What is the USP of MySmartPrice.com which attracting more users?
Sulakshan Kumar: I believe our USP is Accuracy and Variety. As discussed above, we have a wide range of categories and partner with all the top Indian e-commerce stores.

What are the challenges you faced during the initial stages of your start-up?
Sulakshan Kumar: Our biggest challenge was to grow the traffic without burning a hole in our pocket. While most e-commerce destinations spend millions in marketing we focused on an organic growth through SEO which while steady is also slow.

With reference to the challenges faced by the e-commerce sector, do you have any suggestion to overcome them?
Sulakshan Kumar: The challenge and opportunity for e-commerce sector has always been to improve it's reach. Offline retail chains can't satisfy the demand in Remote areas of India. E-commerce sites have a huge potential of reaching remote and rural areas. The challenge here lies in Logistics. A good way to overcome it is to partner with each other and fulfill the Logistic requirements. Also partnering with existing logistic networks such as Post and Railways which is already underway will greatly improve e-commerce connectivity and reach.

What do you think is the future of online shopping with the sharp rise of online shoppers?
Sulakshan Kumar: The future for Online Shopping in India is Mobile commerce. Today while most e-commerce sites do have some sort of mobile presence they are not as good as the Desktop option. India's online user base is largely mobile and it is important to have a fully functional mobile site that not only act as a research outlet but also helps users buy online. Indian e-commerce companies must device of ways to make payment through mobile more secure as well as improve site functionality online.