New technologies and players set e-com for bigger play

Number of shoppers in India is likely to grow to 400 million-450 million by 2027 from 180 million-190 million in 2021. As per estimates India’s e-commerce market is expected to reach $111 billion by 2024, $200 billion by 2026 and $350 billion by 2030.

India is the cynosure of all things digital and it doesn’t come as a surprise that the country is one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets. According to eMarketer, thanks to an increase in retailers joining online shopping ranks, India is boomtown for e-commerce with annual online sales in 2021 having reached $ 67.5 billion and the projected increase in 2022 was 21 per cent reaching $ 74.8 billion.

A report published in October 2022 by Flipkart and Bain & Co, ‘How India Shops Online 2022’, says the number of shoppers in India is likely to grow to 400 million-450 million by 2027 from 180 million-190 million in 2021. As per estimates by India Brand Equity Foundation, India’s e-commerce market is expected to reach $111 billion by 2024, $200 billion by 2026 and $350 billion by 2030.

Recent rise in digital literacy has led to an influx of investment in e-commerce firms, leveling the market for new players to set up their base, while churning out innovative patterns to disrupt old functioning. Giants like Amazon and Flipkart are getting a run for their money by local conglomerates, innovative startups and the Indian government backed ONDC.

Expanding consumer base

Indian consumers are adopting 5G smartphones even before the rollout of nextgen mobile broadband technology in the country. Smartphone shipments reached 150 million units and 5G smartphone shipments crossed four million in 2020, driven by high consumer demand post-lockdown.

Big growth for India-based platforms

As per a Statista report on 2021 performance of reputable Indian e-commerce platforms based on net sales, Tata’s bigbasket.com had the biggest lead with $1,222 million with Relaince’s Ajio a close second at $1.119 million, Reliance.com at $752 million, Grofers. com now known as blinkit.com at $350 million and Nykaa at $ 87 million. The success of these home-grown platforms lies in the outreach to not only value-for-money metrobased consumers but more importantly to Tier II, III cities. An example of a local success story is Meesho that focuses on Tier II and III cities and beyond. During the festive season,

Meesho overtook Amazon in recording the second-highest number of orders. This demonstrated how a massive opportunity for growth exists beyond the Indian metros.

2022 Saw Big Opportunities

In January 2022, Walmart invited Indian sellers to join its US market place aiming at $10 billion exports from India each year by 2027. In the same month, Flipkart announced expansion of its grocery services and to offer services in 1,800 Indian cities. In February, Flipkart launched the “sell back program” to enable trade in smartphones, Amazon India launched One district One product (ODOP) bazaar on its platform to support MSMEs and Xpressbees a logistics ecommerce platform become a unicorn valued at $1.2 billion in 2022. The firm raised $300 million in its Series F funding. In June, Amazon India signed an MoU with Manipur Handloom & Handicrafts Development Corporation Limited (MHHDCL), a Government of Manipur Enterprise to support the growth of artisans and weavers across the state.

These opties are just the tip of the iceberg, and as 5G technology takes off, ecommerce in India can look forward to newer growth stories and higher achievements. 