“I don’t like Window Shopping. Do you know why?”
“I tell you, Why?”

“Number 1. It’s boring.”
“Number 2. I get tired.”
“Number 3. Just wandering aimlessly through shops full of people, I hate that.”
“Number 4. It is sad that have no cash for clothes which I want, so the pauver time were totally wasted.”

A few years ago, when I wanted to buy something online, only Amazon or Ebay name used to pop up in my mind first. Now there are many online retailer sites. On Amazon, when I order, I always paid extra for faster shipping. For example, I ordered something that costs $10 but I had to pay $9 extra for shipping to be delivered.

On eBay, whenever I find something to buy, the product is available on eBay India but not for the same price. There are many products are available in eBay US or other international eBay sites like eBay UK, Australia, etc but the same products you won’t get on eBay India. Due to this reason, many times I drop the idea to buy something from these sites I am looking for. Sometimes, I ordered something but it never reached (later they refunded the money).

Then I heard the name “Flipcart.com” a online retailer of books, electronics, music, etc. I ordered a book – “Stay Hungry Stay Foolish” by Rashmi Bansal (the words “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish” was used by Steve Jobs in 2005 at Stanford University when he was addressing to students).

WOW! I got the book in less than 24 hours. I was completely surprised to see the service Flipcart provided. It was an amazing experience I had. First time I was impressed by an Indian online book retailer site.

The first and best thing I like about flipkart is their prompt of delivery. They provide more choices of products – an excellent collection in terms of books. hey are growing their collection of books, electronics, music, gadgets, etc. The discover-ability of products are also exceptional. Flipkart provide good pricing compared to its competitors. They provide convenient payment options like Flipkart here offer you Cash on Delivery, Net banking and even through your debit card provide EMI to their loyal customers. Flipkart site design is clean, cool and very friendly. Flipkart packs the products in a good manner whether it is book or electronics. Also, their customer Service is awesome.

I would not be shopping again from Amazon.com until Amazon India will be opened here. I now shops on India’s answer to Amazon and eBay — FlipKart.com — which delivers books, phones and other items in as little as 24 hours at no extra cost. I don’t need to pay Flipkart a single penny until a courier bearing his books arrives at my door. Now when I order something on Flipkart I opt the Net banking as a mode of payment – it’s very convenient for me.

“I think Flipcart perfectly fits the Indian mentality.”

While dozens of electronic commerce firms have recently sprung up to capitalize on India’s growing Internet use, they have a problem. Indians are not yet comfortable with shopping on the Web. Many of them remain unwilling to use credit cards online. So the Indian retailers have gone to great lengths to gain customers. Customers may pay in cash on delivery, and the company fields delivery squads to ensure shipments get to customers quickly.

Online sales still make up a small portion of overall retail spending — one estimate pegs it at $10 billion, a tiny fraction of India’s $500 billion retail market — but they are growing fast.

FlipKart says it had revenue of 500 million rupees ($11 million) in its last fiscal year, and is now clocking sales of about 10 million rupees a day.

“This time it is for real,” said Kishore Biyani, the founder and chief executive of the Future Group, referring to an earlier wave of e-commerce euphoria in the early 2000s. “This is the biggest thing to happen in India.”

That rapid growth has drawn the attention of venture capitalists who poured $183 million into 20 e-commerce firms in the last 12 months, up from $61 million for 13 firms in the previous 12 months, according to Venture Intelligence, a research firm.

The rapid growth has also attracted the notice of American online retailers. Amazon, which has a software development office in Bangalore, is now building a warehouse and hiring employees for an Indian site, according to two industry officials.

But, like in frothy Silicon Valley, some Indian analysts and investors are starting to question the frenzied deal-making. These skeptics find it difficult to justify the high prices venture capitalists are paying to invest in unprofitable Indian e-commerce firms. For instance, VCCircle, a news site, recently reported that FlipKart may soon raise $150 million, which would give it a $1 billion valuation.

India has 50 million to 100 million Internet users, according to various analysts, and the number is growing by about 30 percent a year. JuxtConsult, a New Delhi-based research firm, estimates that 17 million people bought something online this year, up from 10 million last year. The Indian government estimates that household consumption has increased by more than two-thirds in the last five years, and most of that increase has come in the purchase of nonfood items.

“It seems to be more for real than a flash in the pan,” said Kanwaljit Singh, who is a senior managing director at Helion Advisors, which has invested in about a half-dozen Indian e-commerce sites, including MakeMyTrip.

But capitalizing on India’s growth online will not be easy. Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (who are not related), the founders of FlipKart, have had to do things that their American or European counterparts would never have. They have set up delivery operations in 13 big Indian cities like Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi because Indian shippers do not have the delivery and package-tracking abilities that FedEx and U.P.S. provide for its American customers. They plan to expand FlipKart’s delivery network to 25 cities within a year.

Sachin Bansal, the company’s chief executive, said that by having its own staff, FlipKart avoids paying courier services’ commissions of more than 2 percent to accept cash on delivery, which make up about 60 percent of its orders. It can also track packages more accurately. And because labor costs are relatively low in India, its delivery cost is a modest $1 a package.

“More than 90 percent of retail transactions in India are in cash,” Mr. Bansal said. “People like my dad and my uncle, they are much more comfortable with cash. If we have to increase our customer base, we have to accept cash.”

FlipKart is not alone in tweaking its model to suit Indian conditions. Myntra, an online retailer of clothes, has a delivery staff in Bangalore and plans to hire couriers in other cities.

Consumers and suppliers laud FlipKart’s service and execution. But they expect the company to soon face greater competition, especially if Amazon starts an Indian operation. “Today they are the best,” said Ananth Padmanabhan, vice president for sales at Penguin India. But, he asked, “if Amazon comes here next month, and they might, what will FlipKart do?”

An Amazon spokesman, Craig Berman, declined to comment on the company’s plans for India, but Mr. Padmanabhan said Amazon officials have been holding talks with publishers, and another industry official said the retailer has begun hiring employees for an Indian site.

The Bansals say they are prepared for competition from Amazon. Sachin Bansal, who worked with Binny Bansal as a software developer at Amazon before starting FlipKart, brushed aside a suggestion that the firm would make for an easy acquisition by Amazon.

“We are very keen on going our own way,” he said. “The opportunity is so large that we would want to grow it to a much bigger level before we think of anything.”