Designing a value-added e-business model through information aggregation: an Indian case study

The increasing internet penetration has made e-business a huge potential in developing countries like India. In today's cluttered online world, it is becoming difficult for customers to search for the sites of their choice. Search engines can be one of the solutions, but it also has a limitation with respect to evaluating the type of information that the customer actually requires. The aggregator e-business model in its numerous variations has emerged as a solution to help individuals and businesses effectively use the massive volumes of information on the internet. In this paper, we have considered the comparison shopping model, one of the information aggregation e-business models, and analysed the status and challenges for these models in India. Using the TolMol.com case study, we have tried to establish that the comparison shopping model of e-business can be successfully implemented in the Indian scenario, with the necessary customisation to suit the Indian business context.