Online marketplaces eagerly await 4G

Leading etailers like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Myntra, among others are rooting for 4G internet to catch on. 4G internet provides much faster connectivity than 3G or 2G. This translates to faster downloading of videos and images. For online marketplaces that have introduced videos and app-based shopping, a 4G net pack on their buyers’ mobile or desktop will be a Godsend.

According to reports, etailers are planning to introduce more features like visual search and videos when 4G gains momentum. This, they say, will contribute to a greater shopping experience to their customers.

The race among internet service providers

Telecom service providers are looking to introduce 4G for their customer base by this year. Airtel has already got there, with the telecom company launching 4G in close to 300 towns already. Others like Vodafone, Aircel, Reliance Jio, and Idea are contemplating going the 4G way soon.

4G and its features

4G internet stands for 4th generation internet. PC Mag explains that 3G (the preceding generation) gives users internet speed between 400 and 4000 Kbps. This gets higher with 4G, meaning much higher speed.

The article says that video streaming is faster with 4G. Transferring large amounts of data also gets simpler with 4G. The article says that succeeding generations of internet typically comes with faster surfing, better quality voice, and more network capacity. This explains why it is great for etailers if their customers adopt 4G rather than 2G or 3G.

How will faster internet help ecommerce?

Flipkart says it has introduced a visual search feature, where customers can use images to search for something they like. If a customer sees something they like, they can click a picture of it, and upload it on the website. Flipkart will search for it and come up with matching products.

Other etailers also have plans to expand their offerings when 4G gains popularity among the internet using populace. Anand Chandrashekharan, chief product officer of Snapdeal says, “If you take a model like Exclusively.com, looking at a luxury dress designed by a world-class designer, I would probably want to see a video of a super model walking down the ramp wearing those. So I think there are a lot of use cases where video can start playing an important role once 4G gets a nationwide presence,”

4G internet can help online commerce in bringing down the disadvantages of virtual shopping. The ambitious ones are contemplating 3D imaging and virtual draping of apparel. It will also widen the geographic reach, thereby creating more potential buyers. With 4G slowly catching up, it could hopefully be good news for etailers.