Why E-commerce in India is still struggling?

Following is a line taken from a random Indian e-commerce website

“If the selected color of dial is not available, an alternate in the same model and value will be deliver” – Author Unknown

Now, its one thing to safeguard your organization against possible complications, but to so openly inform the customer, that “dude, you are screwed” is to take the game to an entirely new level of foolishness!

The line above is wrong in so many ways that I don’t even know where to begin (I am not even talking about the grammar, which by the way is wrong too!). Instead of making sure that the product being offered for sale is available in stock, or at least offering money back guarantee in case it’s not, the customer is simply told that if the the product he / she ordered is not available, there’s not much that can be done!

Why should I accept a brown dial watch, when I ordered a black dial watch, seriously… is it that hard to understand? (For the record, I hate brown… not that it’s relevant here)

But then, customers are no fools, why will they buy from a site which isn’t even sure about the products that it offers for sale? No wonder so many e-commerce sites are struggling. Such websites need to realize that the rules of customer service apply to e-commerce as well! I guess by the time the realization sinks in (if it does at all), it’s too late.

I am not a PR / Marketing / Sales guy, but I have heard of the two golden rules of customer service:

1) The customer is King (and is always right)

2) When in doubt, refer to rule # 1