E-commerce platforms, as per a report by Counterpoint Research, had captured 38 per cent share of the total smartphone channels in India in the first quarter of 2018
(pic credits – pixabay)Stating that the e-commerce will be the engine of the next level of Indian consumer growth beginning this year, a Deloitte India and Retailers Association of India report pegs the India’s e-commerce marketplace at $200 billion. It forecast that the market place is poised to grow to US$1.2 trillion by 2021.
The Deloitte’s 2019 consumer business focused report– Unravelling the Indian Consumer, read, “India’s e-commerce marketplace is currently growing at CAGR 32 per cent and would further rise as the e-commerce space grows at a massive pace, boosting to the overall consumer segment growth in the country.”
It is worth mentioning here that consumer electronics make for one of the most selling categories on e-commerce market places in India. E-commerce platforms, as per a report by Counterpoint Research, had captured 38 per cent share of the total smartphone channels in India in the first quarter of 2018.
Karn Chauhan, Research Analyst at Counterpoint had said, “The E-commerce segment grew faster than the offline segment during Q1 2018. While the smartphone shipments in offline segment declined by three per cent, online segment grew by four per cent(Year-on-Year).”
Factors that attribute growth projection
Changing purchase patterns of the Indian consumers have been attributed as one of the main factors that might fuel the growth. The Deloitte report read, “With increasing internet penetration in India, online buyers are rapidly increasing. Moreover, m-commerce is growing at an exponential pace: m-wallets transactions in India increased from INR 200 billion in FY16 to INR 3,000 billion in FY18.”
High intensity online shopping pattern and heightened use of smartphones, given the increase in internet penetration across the semi-urban and rural segments, helps boost the sales outcome. The millennial population of India has mostly championed this trend across tier one, tier two, and tier three markets.
Social media recommendations
The report highlights that social-commerce in India has been on the rise. According to the report, 28 per cent millennials purchase products due to social media recommendations, and 63 per cent millennials stay updated on brands through social media.
It is to be noted here that ACE brands including the likes of Xiaomi, Realme and Samsung are among the most social media active companies in the country. Xiaomi had posted more than 25 tweets yesterday after the launch of its new products in India. Realme has also been promoting its upcoming smartphone on various social media websites.
Speaking at the launch of the report, a Deloitte India spokesperson said, “India continues to hold a strong position as far as its market potential is concerned and is on its way to becoming the third largest consumer market in the world, poised to grow close to US$ 1.2 trillion by 2021.”
The spokesperson added, “Moreover, use of innovation by way of offering experiential retail has picked up of late with the use of advanced data analytics, bots and drones, beacons, cloud-platforms, AR and VR to understand the real need of the consumer.”
