“You can’t just open a website and expect people to flood in. If you really want to succeed you have to create traffic.”- Joel Anderson, Walmart CEO
With the exponential growth in internet and online infrastructure, it is no surprise that e-commerce market in India has experienced a similar boost. India’s e-commerce revenue growth is about 112% (YOY) and 79% over the past few weeks, clearly signalling a bullish trend in e-commerce sector.
The e-commerce industry across India is estimated to be about 200 billion US dollars in 2027, a significant rise from about 39 billion US dollars in 2017. The increase of smartphone was directly proportionate to the growth in e-commerce sector.
Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in an increase in the Business to consumers (B2C) sales and Business to Business (B2B) e-commerce. The increase in B2C sales is predominantly evident in the segments of online sales of medical supplies, household essentials and food products. Some of the recent trends in E-commerce sector are:
ONLINE SHOPPING:
For several FMCG companies, e-commerce has become an important part of building a network like direct home deliveries. With covid-19 lockdown, there has been a varying shopping behavior among consumers which indicates that people avoid crowded places due to safety reasons signalling to the adoption of e-commerce in India. Online grocery, gourmet foods shopping websites and retailers has been overwhelmed by the orders since stricter lockdown started in India.
Grofers has already added more than 2000 people from other retailers, whose stores aren’t operational during the lockdown and Amazon is also being engaged in discussions with several companies to provide interim work opportunities to their under-utilized manpower to service the growing demand.
Decathlon has recently stopped its product trials and pivoted to “Phygital” (Physical plus digital) stores to ensure a safe shopping experience for the customers.
The overall growth in online sales indicate that consumers are not only restricting their purchases to necessity goods but they are also embracing the “new norm” of online shopping even more.
TELEMEDICINE :
The number of people assessing to online medical consultation has also seen a huge-jump during the nationwide lockdown. The crisis has stimulated a surge in the use of
telemedicine services, as the spread of the virus has spurred calls for more widespread usage. Digital health platform, Practo has been witnessing a surge since the beginning of March, where the teleconsultations have been growing at an average of over 100% week-on-week and also the number of doctors joining Practo has increased to 50%. Godrej Group firm sees a greater role in online sales channels, which it believes will emerge stronger post the ongoing health crisis as people would tend to avoid visiting medical stores.
DIGITAL PAYMENTS:
The pandemic not only transformed the way people shop but also how they purchase. With cash often seen as a potential carrier of the virus during the pandemic, contact-less payments are creating a buzz in the present-day retail world. The technology lets customers make purchases without creating a physical connection between the payment device and Point of Sale (POS) terminal which makes the payment process easier and ensures minimal human contact. It is expected that this trend continues even post-pandemic environment to transform the payments ecosystem. Recently, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has granted WhatsApp to operate its digital payments service in a phased manner, which will be made available to around 100 million people through the messaging app.
DIGITAL LEARNING:
With hundreds of universities and educational institutions shut in order to contain this pandemic, many education institutes around the globe have shifted their teaching-learning procedure online and there has been major growth in ed-tech companies like Byju’s, Udemy, Coursera, upGrad, Eduonix, Toppr, Vedantu, etc., that attracted most customers. Byju’s has become a “Decadorn” with a valuation of $10.5 billion from a global technology investment firm Bond Capital. India with its vast consumer base and technology capital is well poised to become an education investment hub in near future.
ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT:
Online entertainment has taken over the entertainment sector, with the e-commerce entertainment companies like Netflix, Amazon, Hotstar, Gaana and Spotify. Many of the popular movies that were expected to be released were launched on the OTT channels. The Indian media and entertainment sector have reached Rs.1.82 trillion in 2019, with a 9% growth from 2018 and it is expected to cross Rs.2.4 trillion by 2022 at a CAGR of 10%.
BOYCOTT OF CHINESE PRODUCTS:
India may soon make it essential for the e-commerce companies to display clearly whether the products sold on their platform is made in the country or not, as the government seeks to curb the Chinese imports amid the ongoing face-off between the 2 Asian giants alone the Line of Actual Control (LAC) which also helps in supporting the “Atmanirbhar Bharath” mission, syncs well with country’s agenda of “Self-Reliant” and makes people aware of what they are buying.
E-commerce is an ever-expanding world with its intensifying purchasing power of global consumers, proliferating social media users, and continuous progression of infrastructure and technology, the future of e-commerce of 2020 and beyond is still more vibrant as ever.
This e-commerce will also benefit the micro, small, and medium (MSME) enterprises by expanding their scope of the market by overcoming the geographical restrictions and competing with larger players. It is expected that e-commerce proliferates up to Rs. 7 trillion by 2023, which may help preserve jobs amid the employment crisis. The positive Covid-19 impact on e-commerce sector unfortunately spells a heavy loss for brick and mortar stores.
The future of e-commerce looks bright and exciting as a lot of many industries are hopping onto the bandwagon, making every product and service available online. Fast-growing economies like India will witness significant growth due to higher internet penetration and data speeds.
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