Size of the e-commerce market in India was $3.9 billion in the year 2009. Currently, it is around $40 billion and it is expected to grow to $120 billion by the year 2020 and $200 billion by the year 2026 according to a report. E-Commerce has transformed the ways to business in India. The main driver of this growth is the availability of internet services. In this post, we will discuss the e-commerce market in India, industries, growth, and opportunities.
What is E-Commerce?
E-Commerce, or Electronic Commerce, is defined as the commercial transaction conducted electronically on the internet. It is the activity of buying and selling of the products through online services over the internet. It includes fund transfer, supply chain management, transaction processing, inventory management and many more commercial processes done electronically.
The term e-commerce also employs the following:-
- Online retail sales directly to the customers.
- E-Commerce via chat.
- Electronic tickets and bookings.
- Digital wallets.
- Education Services.
- Participating in the online marketplace.
- B2B buying and selling.
- Collecting demographic data through the internet.
Role of Internet
As of July 2018, India has 475 million internet users which about 40% of the total population. This number is more than the total population of the United States. India comes second in the world in terms of internet users. It is only behind China which has 650 million internet users, 48% of the total population. This number in India is growing at a very fast rate. There are 6 million new internet users added each month. It is expected that the number of internet users in India will reach to 829 million in the year 2021.
It is doubtless to say that the internet is playing a vital role in the growth of e-commerce industries. But there is one more figure behind this. In India, the reach of e-commerce to total population is very low as compared to the United States and France were 84% and 81% of the total population is actively using the e-commerce services respectively. However, it should not be seen as a negative aspect but it should be seen as a huge opportunity for the related industries.
Market Size and Growth of E-Commerce in India
The total market size of E-Commerce in India was $3.9 billion in 2009 which grew up to $12.6 billion in 2013. Currently, in the year 2018, it reached around $39 billion and it is expected to reach up to $120 billion and $200 billion up to the years 2020 and 2026 respectively.
There are many products being sold in the e-commerce segment. The electronic products are dominating the market with 48% market share and are followed by apparels which have 29% market share. There is a 9% of market share of home and furnishing products and remained part is shared by baby, beauty and personal care, books, and other products.
Current Market Trends
There is a growing appetite among people in India to buy online products. This is because of the interest of people towards popular brands and easy availability. According to Google trends report, there is an increased number of people in India who wants to buy online products.
There people in India who want to buy the best products of their choice online. They are interested in buying items like phone, books, laptop, shoes etc according to Google’s report.
This report also shows the state-wise interest of people in India in buying online products. This report shows that people from Goa have mostly searched on Google for online buying and they are followed by the people from Mizoram, Sikkim, Meghalaya.
E-Commerce Services and Top Companies
E-Retailing has emerged as the largest e-commerce in not only in India but across the world. It has reached door-to-door in India in order to online shopping and home delivery of items. Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, PayTM etc are the top companies in the field of e-retailing.
There are further many sectors which are emerging through e-Commerce apart from e-retailing. Here is a list of top performing e-commerce services and top companies in these domains:-
- Tourism: MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, Yatra, IRCTC.
- Fin-Tech: PayTM, Freecharge, Mobikwik, PhonPe, PayUmoney.
- Entertainment: BookMyShow, Netflix
- Real Estate: MagicBricks, 99Acres
- Education: EduKart
Government Initiatives
There are several initiatives taken by the government to boost the industries e-commerce market in India . It has increased the limit of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to 100% to increase the participation from foreign companies. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has started allowing inter-operability among Prepaid-Payment Instruments (PPI) such as digital wallets, prepaid cash coupons etc. It has also given a green signal to KYC compliant PPIs for interoperability.
The government of India has taken the initiative of rewarding people on their digital payments to appreciate the electronic payments. The Government has also launched an e-commerce portal called TRIFED and a portal called ‘Tribes India’, which will enable 55,000 tribals to get access to international markets.
Opportunities
The growth of the e-commerce industry has been pushed by the growth of internet users. Currently, there are only 48% of people from the total population are using the internet. It is expected that the number of users will be doubled in next 4 years. So, there is a big opportunity for e-commerce industries in the coming years.
With the development of technology, there is a lot to happen in e-commerce in e-commerce. Artificial intelligence is used for virtual reality by the companies and machine learning techniques are used in identifying the customers. So, with more development of technology will definitely support the e-commerce strongly.
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Tags: #E-Commerce #Online Shopping #E-Commerce market in India
