If you think nailing the perfect product-market fit (PMF) means you have won the e-commerce game, think again. The rules change faster than the arrival of your 10-minute online order, and the goalpost keeps shifting for startups. Just when a company believes it’s cracked the code, the market throws a curveball. That’s exactly what Prabhkiran Singh, founder of online fashion portal Bewakoof, pointed out in a post on LinkedIn on Tuesday about how finding the right product fit is not a milestone but a moving target.
Giving examples around the e-commerce’s journey in India over the past 18 years, Singh highlighted the early problem of trust when e-commerce was nascent, and nobody wanted to pay online. However, Flipkart then introduced cash on delivery (COD) model. “E-commerce exploded overnight. Soon, Cash on Delivery became the norm and every ecommerce player had it. But it wasn’t enough to win e-commerce in India,” said Singh.
But did that mean Flipkart had conquered PMF? Nope. Soon, COD became the industry norm and competitors weren’t far behind.
The came the problem of speed and discounts in 2010s. As the e-commerce battlefield became crowded, companies realised that trust alone wouldn’t cut it. Hence, speed and price became king. Flipkart and Amazon led the charge, luring shoppers with deep discounts and massive sales.
“Consumers got addicted to instant delivery. If a package didn’t arrive in 24 hours, it felt unacceptable. It was still not enough to win the Indian e-commerce,” Singh recalled.
Again, just when companies thought they had mastered the market, the game changed as personalisation and accessibility became the key ingredients in 2020s. Shoppers today don’t just want things fast, they want things their way.
Here, Meesho stepped in to tap into the power of small sellers and social commerce while Blinkit and Zepto turned grocery shopping into an instant-gratification experience.
Singh said, “Meesho empowered small sellers through social commerce while Blinkit and Zepto made grocery shopping and now food delivery a 10-minute affair. Nykaa built an empire by curating and selling beauty like a content creator. Again proving, every time a company thought they had “won” PMF, the market changed the rules.”
This indicates that the Indian e-commerce story, as Singh explained, is proof that there’s no final boss in the PMF game. Hence, while startups strive to achieve PMF as quickly as possible, the reality is that there is no finish line.