Booming Indian E-commerce

Indian e-commerce is booming.!

For several years, we continue to buy many items online in our day-to-day life, ranging from simple stationeries, apparels, groceries to high end mobile phones and electrical appliances. And majority of us are almost satisfied with the quality of products, delivery and customer service offered by the companies involved and hence the continuous purchase. Yes, exceptions will be there.

However, are you aware of the massive changes happening in the last decades in e-commerce industry in our country? Well, it is huge and have benefitted millions of people. And the world is closely watching India as the next big market destination after China.

Let’s zoom into this for a while.!

E-commerce in India, with its 1.39 billion and counting population, is consistently remarking manifold growth over previous years. It is now again gearing up, owing to increased acceptance of online products, due to pandemic.

As per IBEF, online stores in India made a whopping sale of US$8.3 billion across the platforms in India during the Festive period of October 2020. About 88 million users made an online purchase during this festive season, a significant jump of 87% over the previous season.

According to InvestIndia, a non-profit venture under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, the Indian e-commerce retail market which stood at US$30 billion in 2019, is estimated to cross US$200 billion in 2026. The e-commerce industry is set to grow at a CAGR of 30% and have a market penetration of 12% by then compared to 2% currently.

Journey of E-commerce in India

India embarked on electronic commerce in 1999, when Mr. K. Vaitheeswaran, the Father of Indian e-commerce, co-founded Fabmart.com, when the worldwide web was mysterious with majority of Indians. Even though IRCTC, the largest ticketing service provider in the country, introduced online booking in 2002, only a tiny fraction of public could access it.

Nevertheless, that decade witnessed the flourishing of e-commerce sector in India with online travel companies like MakeMyTrip, Yatra and ClearTrip accounting for lion’s share along with IRCTC. Later, Flipkart and Snapdeal entered the market and in the past decade, a plethora of companies including Paytm followed, taking Indian e-commerce market into newer heights.

Based on Statista, in 2020, the internet connections in our country have crossed 696.77 million. In 2022, much before the launch of the long-awaited 5G Network, the estimated total internet user base will be 829 million. With faster internet connectivity and reduced charges, m-commerce is becoming more popular and is poised to burst into the mainstream.

Reports of smartphone shipments are crossing all the records, which can be taken as an indicator of the upcoming e-commerce boom.! Read more about how NetZoi Technologies, an e-commerce development company can help brand your business with flawless e-commerce solutions.

Changing Shopping Modes

The launch of the 4G Network propelled every Indian Business & Industrial sector to have their digital presence. Post-demonetization, Indians have accepted online payments for their day-to-day activities. They are happy with the comfort of making a few clicks to buy their milk or even medicines and get delivered at their doorsteps.

Pandemic & Lock Down has transformed the potential buyers to think beyond the traditional way of buying goods and adapt to the changing trends. During the pandemic lockdown, more and more Indians learnt the convenience of buying from home, which eventually became a routine. The Indian households tuning to online purchase are the most promising factor for the future of electronic commerce.

As per official reports, the number of households carrying out online transactions in India is estimated to grow from 154 million in 2020 to 223 million in 2025.

India, the Investment Destination

With a massive 45% of country’s population within the internet network, every player is eyeing to tap the huge potential of Indian e-commerce. Tales of acquisition or investments in the top Indian e-commerce startups by global giants are now an everyday story in India.

In 2015, Indian companies received a mind-blowing figure of US$11.3 billion altogether as investments. Since then, the Indian market has become so attractive that in 2018, Walmart, the US based retail giant, acquired Flipkart, the then largest Indian online retailer, for an incredible amount of US$16 billion.

US e-commerce giant Amazon has pumped in Rs.11,400 crores in FY2019-’20 across its marketplace, payments and wholesale business units in India. In 2020, Indian giant Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) acquired Future Group’s retail business which includes Big Bazaar, at a mammoth figure of Rs.24,000 crore. 

In May 2021, Indian conglomerate Tata Sons has acquired a majority stake in India’s largest online grocery, BigBasket.

That was a glimpse of few major headlines in Indian e-commerce industry over recent years and many more to follow.

Redefining E-commerce

In the future, e-commerce will be much more than a user interface. IoT (The Internet of Things), AI (Artificial Intelligence) and AR (Augmented Reality) will play a vital role in e-commerce for enhanced customer experience.

With IoT, the e-commerce platforms can collect the consumption patterns to alert and enable an automatic purchase. Augmented Reality will bridge the gap between physical and digital experiences. Artificial Intelligent powered chatbots and checkouts, will intensify customer satisfaction.

Innovations in Advertisements & Logistics, will be the other supreme trends in future e-commerce, that are going to be witnessed. Shortly, delivery drones will be an everyday sight for us. However, the quality of the product/service provided remains the fundamental factor.

The world is getting ready for the fourth industrial revolution. Internet will be one of the basic needs of human life in the post pandemic era. The launch of 5G network will change our lives beyond expectation. However, Interface innovation and Customer satisfaction with the quality of product or service will decide the factors of success, in the long run.