According to the recent ASSOCHAM- Resurgent India joint study, 69% of Indian population purchased online from e-commerce websites in 2016. Bangalore topped among the cities, followed by Mumbai and Delhi. In Bangalore, 75% of the articles purchased online were apparel, gift articles, magazines, home tools, toys, jewelry, beauty products and sporting goods. 69% of the population in Bangalore preferred online purchase.
In Mumbai, around 65% people purchased online and 70% of the purchase comprised of electronic gadgets, accessories, apparel, gifts, computer peripherals, movies, hotel booking, home appliances, movie tickets, health & fitness products and apparel gift certificates.
In Delhi, 61% of people purchased articles online. The category comprises of mainly daily routine products.
Overall, Indian e-retail shows a progress and it is expected to surge further by 2018. In 2013, it registered sales of $3.59 billion. The count increased 48% in 2014 and reached $5.30 billion. By the end of 2018, this is expected to reach $17.52 billion with a growth of 65%.
Factors such as better infrastructure in terms of logistics, broadband, and Internet-ready devices promote this growth, pointed out the study. In the e-retail, mobile devices account for 30-35% sales and this is expected to reach 45% by 2017. 50% of the traffic is coming from mobile and a majority of them are first time customers, added the paper.
In terms of categories, 85% spent is made on apparel, 68% on mobile phones, and 25% on cosmetics. Watches and artificial jewelry are the other two categories which are showing an increase.
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The paper delineates a few challenges for the e-commerce industries. Primarily, there is an absence of a strong law for e-commerce and the business model keeps changing. Low entry barriers leading to reduced competitive advantages, Urban phenomenon, Shortage of manpower, and Customer loyalty are the other challenges.
