E-Commerce Market

Online retail market today in India was about Rs. 4000 crores which estimated grow at a scorching pace of 57%(CAGR). However most of the E-Commerce companies like Flipkart are finding it difficult to break even, even at this scale. The industry is in price war mode which does not look to be ending soon. That said companies like footsy.in, blugape.com, the boxerstore.co.in and many such are looking to concentrate on a niche market and make money. Let us look at some criterias on which one should enter a niche market in e-commerce (not exhaustive):

The Most Important One: Pick a niche that has a substantial market size

Let’s take for example Myntra.com. It started as online demand personalization for products such as T-Shirts, mugs, greeting card etc. However it hit a ceiling in 2010. It had to pivot to being online retailer of fashion and casual lifestyle products as the market size was small for the earlier segment. So, the most important thing to look for when deciding a niche is the market size. It should be substantial to let you scale and earn. The niche needs to be big enough to be a standalone market!

Criteria #2: Look for the current competition

One should do a competitive landscape of the niche and see if there are established player. For example getting into baby products market is a bad idea due to presence of companies like Firstcry, Hushbabies, and Babyoye which have a substantial market share.

Criteria #3: Don’t sell something that is easily available locally/people have don’t problem buying locally

The idea is to have products which are not easily available/people have problem buying locally which in turn channelizes the demand to you website. An example would be Zivame.com which sells Lingerie. There is a lot of social discomfort in India with buying it and it becomes a hurried buy. Also, women in Tier-II and III cities don’t get enough choice. So, the site becomes a perfect destination for them.

Criteria #4: Do not get into a market where one needs to manage lot of inventory

This creates issue with inventory management. One does not want to have dead stock lying, locking down capital. Also, it allows investing time in making great product listings on the website that will be useful for long time. A good example would be a site like Pyramid Air which sells Air Guns in US. They have a detailed listing of each product with test videos, features etc. They are able to do that as their products don’t have a high turnover. It helps substantially in SEO also.

E-Commerce is growing rapidly and many companies are jumping on to this bandwagon. One has to be doubly sure that there is a market for their product before launching. Getting the basics right is the key. Results will gradually unfold, one has to keep the patience

DRINKING WATER INDIAN STANDARDS

TREATED WATER QUALITY USP Standards:

Sr. No.	PARAMETER	Water as   per U S P Standards Purified water
1.	Appearance	Clear
2.	Colour,    Hazen unit	Colourless
3.	Odour	Odourless
4.	pH	5.0 - 7.0
5.	Conductivity @ 25 o C	< 1.25 mS/cm.
6.	Total Organic Carbon, ppb	<500 ppb
7.	Total aerobic microbial count, (cfu/ml)	As per USP 27 :  100 Target level      :  100

INDIAN STANDARDS

DRINKING WATER SPECIFICATIONS

Sl. No.	Particulars	Desirable Limit	Permissible Limitin the Absence of Alternate Sources
	Essential Characteristics
1	Colour , Pt-Co	5	25
2	Odour	Unobjectionable	--
3	Taste	Agreeable	--
4	Turbidity, NTU	5	10
5	pH Value	6.5 – 8.5	No relaxation
6	Total Hardness (as CaCo3) mg/l	300	600
7	Iron (as Fe), mg/l	0.3	1.0
8	Chlorides ( as Cl), mg/l	250	1000
9	Residual free chlorine	0.20	--
	Desirable Characteristics
10	Dissolved solids, mg/l	500	2000
11	Sulphates (as SO4 ), mg/l	200	400
12	Nitrate(as NO3), mg/l	45	100
GENERAL STANDARD FOR BACTERIOLOGY
1.	Total Plate Count / ml	100
2.	MPN Coliform / 100ml	1

Application's of Ozone Disinfection System in Water & waste water Treatment plants

Chlorination of water with high dosages in raw water is always not recommended as the raw water needs to be fed to various other utilities in the plant area, wherein the high chlorine levels are not acceptable.

Moreover this also leads to increase in Ionic load of water in turn increasing the TDS levels in raw water. Higher TDS levels affect the performance of D M Plant.

Pathogens are water borne organisms and cannot survive or grow without water. It is very difficult to analyze/detect pathogens in free flowing water. However when a vast surface area is provided in favorable moist conditions pathogens start breeding. This vast surface area is provided with ideal conditions for the growth in Anion exchanger of D M plant.

Our ambient tropic temperatures of 30 to 35 deg  & PH levels of 8 to 10 in Anion exchanger act as a perfect host for pathogens to multiply.

A single pathogen entering in the D M Plant from Raw water will get itself lodged on the vast surface area of anion exchanger  & with its ideal conditions of growth will start multiplying & sending out colonies of pathogens in D M water leaving the column.

Now the grab sampling of raw water carried out on regular basis cannot be indicative result of water passing into the system for the whole day, i.e. there are always chances that a entry of pathogens (which are water borne &cannot survive without water) into the system. This cannot be prevented without having an effective full proof treatment scheme prior to D M plant to ensure the absence of pathogens from raw water.

Ozone being the strongest oxidizing agent will ensure complete Disinfection of water  & ensure the water entering into D M Plant is free from pathogens.

We have very briefly described below the Ozone system being offered for Disinfection of water from pathogens along with the health & safety data sheets of Ozone for your kind reference.

Technical write up for Ozone Disinfection System

HOW OZONE IS MADE

Oxygen molecules (O₂) are split when passed through a gap formed by a high voltage electrode, dielectric and ground electrode. High voltage, at high frequency, is then applied to the electrodes. The plasma formed in the gap is known as a Corona Discharge, and it is here that some of the oxygen molecules split and recombine to form ozone:

O₂ + energy → 2 O●

O● + O₂ → O₃

HOW OZONE WORKS

Ozone is an unstable compound, and may react in a simple oxidation where on molecule splits off or in a reaction called Criegee mechanism where all three oxygen molecules are used. In most inorganic reactions only one atom of the ozone molecule enters into the oxidation; the other two are released as molecular oxygen. Ozone reacts readily with unsaturated organic compounds, adding all three oxygen atoms at the double or triple bond. I addition, ozone can act as a powerful disinfectant, rupturing the cell wall to inactivate bacteria, fungi, viruses, etc.

Introduction to Ozone

Ozone is an allotropic form of oxygen (O3) and after Fluorine is the strongest oxidant. It is the most powerful natural air and water sanitizer readily available. Being a powerful oxidizer it can kill a wide variety of Viruses, Bacteria and other Toxins. It also oxidizes, Phenols, Pesticides, Detergents and Aromatic compounds effectively.

Ozone is created naturally in the earth atmosphere. It surrounds the Earth at an altitude between 60,000 and 100,000 feet. It is created in nature when ultraviolet energy causes Oxygen atoms to recombine in groups of three. Ozone is also formed by action of an electrical Discharge in the atmosphere and so is often created by Lightening. That’s why air smells fresh just after a Lightening.

An Ozone generator uses the same principle, as that of nature’s to create ozone. In an enclosed electrode, oxygen is split into nascent oxygen using electrical discharge. This broken down oxygen atoms recombines to become stable oxygen again but some of it recombines as ozone. This ozone is taken out from the electrode and injected in the water stream. The electrode is the heart of ozonator system. It should have excellent cooling. The ozone generation is affected adversely when the operating temperature goes up. The electrode is given a high voltage and high frequency current. There is a control circuit to deliver the required voltage to the electrode

A typical ozone generator will have an air preparation unit or an oxygen concentrator, ozone cell and the ozone delivery system. The air preparation unit consists of an air dryer, air filter etc. the dried compressed air is then taken to the electrode where a very small part of the oxygen is converted to ozone. The mixture of ozone and air is then taken out using ozone resistant tubing and injected into water. The injection is done using either a venturi or a sparger.

WATER QUALITY USP Standards

TREATED WATER QUALITY USP Standards:

Sr. No.	PARAMETER	Water as   per U S P Standards Purified water
1.	Appearance	Clear
2.	Colour,    Hazen unit	Colourless
3.	Odour	Odourless
4.	pH	5.0 - 7.0
5.	Conductivity @ 25 o C	< 1.25 mS/cm.
6.	Total Organic Carbon, ppb	<500 ppb
7.	Total aerobic microbial count, (cfu/ml)	As per USP 27 :  100 Target level      :  100

INDIAN STANDARDS

DRINKING WATER SPECIFICATIONS

Sl. No.	Particulars	Desirable Limit	Permissible Limitin the Absence of Alternate Sources
	Essential Characteristics
1	Colour , Pt-Co	5	25
2	Odour	Unobjectionable	--
3	Taste	Agreeable	--
4	Turbidity, NTU	5	10
5	pH Value	6.5 – 8.5	No relaxation
6	Total Hardness (as CaCo3) mg/l	300	600
7	Iron (as Fe), mg/l	0.3	1.0
8	Chlorides ( as Cl), mg/l	250	1000
9	Residual free chlorine	0.20	--
	Desirable Characteristics
10	Dissolved solids, mg/l	500	2000
11	Sulphates (as SO4 ), mg/l	200	400
12	Nitrate(as NO3), mg/l	45	100
GENERAL STANDARD FOR BACTERIOLOGY
1.	Total Plate Count / ml	100
2.	MPN Coliform / 100ml	1