Concept of E-Consumerism: A Need to Revamp Movement for E-Consumerism in India

Abstract

In the new millennium, with the change of nature of Indian economy from physical to digital economy, consumers have entered into a new online (digital) economy. With the ‘e’-revolution and Information Technology, electronic commerce has emerged as the potential emblem of a new worldwide virtual economy. In online shopping, on the one hand, consumers are offered convenience, quickness and global choice in services, goods and, more importantly, in prices, however, on the other hand, the Internet implies new hazards for consumers in the environment of e-marketing. The consequences of shopping, in the borderless world of the Internet, function differently from the offline world in various ways. The position of the consumer in an electronic environment is primarily weaker when it comes to issues concerning quality, privacy, payments and e-transactions. This article profiles the importance of consumer rights as a backbone of on-line Indian economy and sketches out the major threats to consumers in e-Banking and online shopping.