In part 1 of this two part interview series, Gautam Sinha, CTO and Head (E-Commerce) at Indiatimes, spoke with us about changes that the Indiatimes Shopping is making, why it’s making them, why now, and the pricing of products online. In part two, he speaks with us about the viability of the Cash of Delivery model, how the company prices products given differential taxes across states in India, ticket sizes, about Indiatimes' accounting of e-commerce revenues, about entering the TV shopping business, and platform changes: MediaNama: What do you view from the users side - has there been a change in buyer behaviour? Gautam Sinha: Because of the general awareness of e-commerce, and most players are well capitalized, the buyers feel more comfortable in transacting online. Payment modes like Cash on Delivery (COD) which gives comfort to buyers - they see the product and make the payment. We see shift in traction towards that, especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. MediaNama: How does the COD model work? You are taking a risk in terms of cost, of delivering and the customer refusing to pay for it. Is the cost justifiable? Gautam Sinha: It is an industry problem. Cash On Delivery returns is a function of how long you take to delivery. The general rule of thumb is that if you take four days to deliver, your returns are in the order of 40%, if you take 3 days, it is of the order of 30%. While COD is a risk, all players…
