Our Future Of E-Commerce session was brought to you by Akamai. Click here to download the presentation on "Why the Internet Doesn't Always Work", by Lelah Manz, Akamai Chief Strategist (Commerce). Our notes from the panel discussion: Changes in the recent times: There's been a fundamental shift in sentiment towards ecommerce players at the venture capitalist end, after Flipkart's acquisition of Letsbuy, according to Harish Bahl, CEO of Smile Group which backs ecommerce properties such as FashionAndYou, DealsAndYou and Freecultr. Speaking at a MediaNama-Akamai event on The Future of E-commerce, Bahl said that it was good that an element of reality check has creeped in and players are more focused on unit metrics, path to profitability and awareness about product categories that work. He said that the crazy bullishness has subsided and players and VCs are also skeptical of changes at the regulatory level, and that consolidation is bound to happen. Gautam Sinha, Director (Technology and E-Commerce) at Indiatimes* said that the fundamentals remain the same and inducing the first transaction is a challenge for all ecommerce players. He estimated that not even 10% of the total Internet user base was doing ecommerce transactions and it's important to convert this base. Neetu Bhatia, Chairman and CEO of Kyazoonga, shared the same sentiment and said that Indian ecommerce players have a lot of scope for growth since unlike markets like the US, the experience offered by physical retail was nothing to talk about. Selling below MOP: The forum then discussed the issue of selling below the…
