Growth of E-Commerce industry in India

Growth of E-Commerce industry in India

In the last few years, we have been experiencing a notable transformation in the way the Indian consumer shops and trades. E-commerce has gained the competitive advantage over the retail market by storm, has attracted a lot of entrepreneurs and thus paved a strong way in the establishment of various e-commerce ventures by several businesses and commercial models. The tremendous growth in the e-commerce industry over the last few years has put the large enterprises in these ventures over and above the billion dollar territory.

According to a study, the India’s e-commerce industry will comprise of 100 million online shoppers and the sector will become a $15 billion market by the year 2016. Another study, according to ASSOCHAM, revealed that the e-commerce industry in India is expected to be worth INR 2,538.42 billion by 2016, which is a whopping 67 per cent increase over the INR 1,536.41 billion revenues for 2015.

In a statement by ASSOCHAM about the Indian e-commerce industry, “India’s e-commerce market was worth about INR 253.84 (USD 3.8) billion in 2009, it went up to INR 1,135.61 (USD 17) billion in 2014 and to INR 1,536.41 (USD 23) billion in 2015 and is expected to touch whopping INR 2,538.42 (USD 38) billion mark by 2016.”

According to a survey conducted by Google search trends and Forrester Consulting, it is revealed that 65% of the buyers’ shops online because of convenience, 64% use online platforms for the wide variety of products available to choose from and 60% use online buying route to improve their social status. This means that most of the online shoppers in the Indian retail market are considering online shopping as a means for improving their status quo, availing the convenience of easy buying and a range of products to choose from, through their online shopping.

Even though the online retailing segment constitutes a small part of the whole e-commerce industry, it is one of the fastest growing segments and poses a major challenge to the players in delivering the wide variety of products that the shoppers require.On discussing the same with Vikash Khetan, Founder of CouponzGuru.com (a leading coupons and deals site in India), he said “In the last 5 years we have seen a tremendous growth in the e-commerce market in India, the volumes have increased by almost 20X compared to 2011. Even, the industry is getting matured and bringing in innovative ideas. However, the next 3 years would the time of consolidation for the likes of Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, Paytm.”

The internet usage and the mobile usage for browsing activity are increasing rapidly among the Indian customers. This change is contributing positively to the growth of the e-commerce industry in India, with many people using online retail for their shopping needs. In addition, more and more people are using the online payment feature for their transactions and also favorable demographics are also playing an important role in the growth of the e-commerce industry in India. These encouraging features are motivating both the consumer and the businesses to connect with each other through these online shopping platforms.

Moreover, the aggressive online discounts, and offers that are being provided by the various online retail businesses for their competitive advantage are encouraging more and more shoppers to go for online shopping for their shopping needs. Despite the severe competition in the e-commerce industry, the online retail businesses are constantly providing a wide variety of choices to choose from for their customers, which marks another reason for the growth in the e-commerce industry in India.