Recognising the growing significance of e-commerce activities in India, FMCG majors are now leveraging this mode of business transaction more to drive volumes in competitive markets.

Although the ?touch-and-feel factor? still plays a major role in driving consumers towards an actual shopping experience, virtual shopping is gaining significance too, owing to the convenience of shopping online, given the high growth in Internet usage. A Boston Consulting Group report last year said India will have 237 million internet users by 2015, after taking into account the rollout of 3G services and the possibility of a rapid rural penetration of mobile internet services.

To tap this opportunity, Dabur India is planning to sell its Ayurvedic skin care brands on the net while Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) is beefing up its e-commerce activities to pump up volumes. Other FMCG majors ITC Personal and Wipro Consumer Care Ltd (WCCL) are actively looking at this channel to sell their select brands online. Meanwhile, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd is evaluating the business transaction opportunities in cyberspace.

?With mobile phones evolving, supported by a growing connectivity infrastructure in the form of WiFi and soon 3G, consumers will soon purchase products while on the go. Likewise, netizens will soon prefer to buy products online. It’s a nascent but evolving business transaction sector,? said an analyst based in Mumbai. According to FMCG analysts, this mode of transaction is just picking up in the Indian FMCG industry.

On the company?s e-commerce strategy, Sunil Duggal, CEO of Dabur India said, “Last year, we began selling our new skin care range ?Uveda? on the net. This year, we plan to sell more products through this channel in cyberspace.?

According to industry analysts, the Web today represents a new sales channel for existing products, and enables a personalised relationship between the buyer and the customer. ?However, its absolute potential can be reached only when the Web is used as a differentiated medium as well a differentiated distribution channel by FMCG companies,? said an analyst based in Mumbai.

According to RS Sodhi, CEO of GCMMF, the company is currently selling all Amul brands on the net.? We were among the first Indian organisations to set up our own cyber-store, way back in 2000. We will be strengthening our e-commerce activities to meet the growing demands of consumers, ? he added.

While some companies are already beefing up their e-commerce initiatives, others are in a wait-and-watch mode. “In future, we will be actively considering the prospect of e-commerce for some of our brands. At present, we are not selling any brands online,? said Sandeep Kaul, CEO of ITC Personal. Vineet Agrawal, president of Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting said: “We are watching this space keenly.?