E-Commerce Industry in India: Research, Analysis, Notes

ECommerce Market in India, its growth and challenges and the key areas for its expansion in India. Find research data, analysis, case studies, projects related to the E-commerce industry in India.

Ecommerce refers to the buying and selling of goods or services over the internet. Over the years, E-commerce has transformed the way business used to be done in India. The Indian E-commerce market is expected to touch US$ 200 billion by the year 2026 from around US$ 38.5 billion in 2017.

Much of the growth of this Industry in India can be attributed to the growth of the internet in India, the wide penetration of smartphones, launch of the 4G network, and the rising consumer wealth of the Indian population. Driven by the government’s ‘Digital India’ programme, the number of internet connections in India has increased significantly assisting the growth of e-commerce in India. Initiatives such as Digital India, Make in India, Start-up India, Skill India, and their effective implementation will only help support the growth of E-commerce in India.

The main advantage of e-commerce for consumers is that it offers them the convenience to order things without having to visit the stores, and one also tends to find more discounts when shopping online. The sector continues to witness more new online shoppers, existing shoppers continue to buy more products, including food and grocery, and mature shoppers are moving more of their spending to online platforms due to better pricing.

The Indian e-commerce sector comprises of several Indian-founded companies, and a few foreign companies such as Amazon. The Indian e-commerce segment has a nice mix of pure e-commerce players and other brick and mortar retailers that have turned into e-commerce giants. The top e-commerce companies In India include Amazon India, Flipkart, Myntra, IndiaMART, BookMyShow, to name a few.

While the future of E-commerce in India looks good, it also faces several challenges. Despite the growth of Internet in India, in terms of percentage of the population, Internet penetration in India is very low compared to developed countries such as Singapore. E-Commerce growth also needs to be ably supported by adequate laws; India’s Information Technology (IT) Bill provides legal support for e-Commerce but it needs to be expanded to cover other important things such as individual property rights, privacy and security. Digital illiteracy is also a challenge in India because of which many do not use e-Commerce; many of them are also skeptical about paying by credit card in India because of which Cash on Delivery is a popular mode of payment for products bought online; however, manual cash collection has its risks and is laborious.

In the coming years, e-commerce will continue to expand in industries such as Retail, Logistics, Food & Grocery, Apparel, Consumer Electronics, Education, Entertainment, Healthcare, Agriculture, and others. Several brick-and-mortar shops, and businesses in the small and medium industries are now having an online presence or are trying to build one. Even the government is encouraging start-ups to register at public procurement portals to offer goods and services to government organisations and PSUs. Technology enabled innovations such as digital payments, hyperlocal (a very specific demography) logistics, analytics driven customer engagement, and digital advertisements will continue to drive growth in E-commerce.

References

E-commerce Industry in India

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