eBay targets rural markets

eBay India, the online marketplace that offers person-to-person trading, is targetting sellers in the rural markets.

The company is also expecting 50 per cent of eBay buyers to come from small towns in the next 5 years.

"We are training people in the rural areas to sell products on eBay.

Handicrafts and products that are otherwise not available in the urban areas, are always in demand. So it can be a good business or entrepreneurial opportunity for people living in rural areas. All it takes is a computer and a broadband connection," said Ambareesh Murty, director- category management, eBay India Pvt Ltd.

eBay India provides a platform for many entrepreneurial opportunities for Indian sellers as it allows local products to be sold across the country and to buyers across the world. Sellers can also use the eBay opportunity to extend an offline business to online with zero upfront investment, added Murty.

The company would train people in the rural areas in e-commerce for a token money of around Rs 49.

The training would mainly focus on how people living in rural areas can put up products on the internet and sell them in other countries as well as in other parts of India.

"Our rural initiative is already taking shape in Uttar Pradesh. Our next stop would be Tamil Nadu," said Murty.

So far, the company has trained over 21,000 potential sellers at over 80 sessions across India.

Rapid growth is coming from the B and C towns as 20-30 per cent of the present buyers are from these segments.Buyers are in the 18-40 age groups.

In India, Maharashtra leads the eBay user-base at 28 per cent, with Karnataka leveraging a 10 per cent of the total user-base. Five per cent of the company's users are from West Bengal.

The company has a total user-base of 2 million in India. India exports mainly jewellery, watches, apparels and accesories, coins and stamps, musical instruments, etc.

In India, where buyers want to touch and try a product before buying it, a lot of accessories, mobiles, etc. dominate sales.

However, buyers usually don't hesitate buying branded products without trying them. For example, if a buyer wants to buy a pair of Levis Jeans from eBay and knows his size, he/she wouldn't hesitate, Murty said.

eBay earns a 4 per cent business on on a product priced at Rs 4,000.

"If a product is sold at anything more than Rs 4,000, for instance, if it is sold at Rs 6,000 and upwards, we earn 4 per cent on Rs 4,000 and 2 and a half per cent on the rest," explained Murty.

On an average day on eBay India, a piece of jewellery sells every 7 minutes, a mobile handset every 9 minutes, apparel sells every 12 minutes, and MP3 players every 18 minutes.

People also buy books every 24 minutes and a musical instrument every 6 hours.