Amazon.in Lightning Deal over before it even strikes

In the biggest ever war between the Indian e-commerce giants during the Dussehra-Diwali festivals, Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal, for the Indian consumer's eyeballs and money, the hard-earned trust has been taken for granted.

Amazon.in is running Lightning Deals as part of its Diwali Dhamaka Week promotion. I spotted a mouse that I wanted to purchase. I clicked on the deal right when it started but it showed that it was already over.

In fact, no one claimed it. Evidently there is a technical glitch.

0% claimed. Deal Over

What is the point of full page advertisements when promised goods cannot be delivered? Economic Times reports that of the 1 billion who visited Flipkart, 998.5 million came back empty-handed. Having purchased on Flipkart during its Big Billion sale and on Amazon recently, I found several things lacking in my usual online shopping experience. Items vanishing from shopping carts, server errors and incorrect details seriously question the reliability of these websites. The original store policies are changing. There was a time when Flipkart and Amazon delivered purchases at remarkable speed. Now there is an extra price if you need it within 2 days and if it is shipped for free, it can take more than 4 days.

E-commerce accounts for less than 1% of the total retail market in India. It will be sad if the Indian e-commerce golden goose is killed because of arbitrary changes and unscrupulous practices.

Also see: Indian comparison shopping sites