81% consumers want stringent e-commerce rules, shows survey

The government's plans to make e-commerce rules more stringent have received big support from the  respondents of an online survey conducted by community social media platform LocalCircles. Of the 16,236 respondents, 81 per cent said they preferred sale of products and services over electronic or digital networks to be governed by a set of electronic commerce rules. The consumer mood has been revealed at a time when e-commerce firms have expressed concerns over the proposed amendments to Consumers Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020.

LocalCircles said that 41 per cent of the respondents wanted e-commerce marketplace, e-commerce inventory models, e-pharmacies, e-groceries and all such sectoral products and electronically sold services like app-based food delivery, app taxis, etc to come under regulation. While 10 per cent respondents did not prefer regulation, nine per cent did not have an opinion. 

Giving further breakup, LocalCircles said 64 per cent of the consumers want e-commerce rules to be implemented for “all electronically sold services like app-based food delivery, app taxis, home repair, salon, airline and railway ticketing, OTT subscription, payments, etc,” while 59 per cent said they must be implemented for “e-commerce marketplaces and e-commerce inventory models,” and 56 per cent wanted it to be implemented for vertical e-commerce i.e. “e-pharmacies, e-groceries, etc.”
 
The social media platform points out that consumers want effective and in advance display of information about e-commerce services like Uber, Ola app taxis i.e. taxi vendors/drivers, vehicle condition, license validity, PUC clearance of vehicle etc. to enable them to make informed decisions. Similarly, LocalCircles users also discussed app based hotel e-commerce services like OYO, Airbnb etc. and how advanced information about the property, owner, incidents/crime at location, fire and building safety clearances etc. will be useful information for them to make informed decisions. Various services platforms like travel aggregators, food delivery aggregators, event ticketing aggregators as well as platforms like airline websites selling air tickets, IRCTC selling train tickets were all identified as e-commerce services by the survey respondents. 

The survey received responses from across 356 districts of India. Sixty four per cent respondents were men and 36 per cent women. While 51 per cent of them were from Tier 1 cities, 26 per cent hailed from Tier 2 cities. The rest were Tier 3, 4 and rural districts.

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