Leveraging Networking Groups for Social Shopping with Special Reference to Instagram

Abstract

The advent of the Internet and the gradual digitization of select services mark the beginning of a new era in E-commerce and Online access to some facilities that minimize both time and human energy. For example, booking tickets for train travel, air travel, and even bus travel were brought to the fingertips of families which had to otherwise spend a lot of time in long queues before booking counters. Subsequently, other service providers also entered the field with more sophisticated services like booking accommodation, guided tours, and even packaged travel plans. Yatra.com, Make-my-trip, Goibibo, IRCTC, and Red bus are some of the best examples for pioneering efforts that made a considerable impact on services of this kind. In the meantime, the digital platform began to be exploited by new-players who entered the fray with products in almost all walks of life, such as clothing and fashion, beauty care, electronic goods, consumer durables, and even essentials of life such as groceries, fruits, and vegetables. The entry of big- players such as Flipkart and Amazon took online shopping to the next level.