'Indian e-commerce market to touch $38 bn in 2016'

02 Jan '16

4 min read

India's e-commerce market is likely to touch $38 billion in 2016, a huge 67 per cent jump over the $23 billion revenues for 2015, according to a study by Assocham.

The industry has witnessed an unprecedented growth of 52 per cent over 2015 and has emerged as one of the fastest growing sectors. “Increasing internet and mobile penetration, growing acceptability of online payments and favourable demographics has provided the e-commerce sector in India the unique opportunity to companies connect with their customers”, the Assocham paper said.

With the buying trends during 2015 have witnessed a significant upward movement due to aggressive online discounts, rising fuel price and wider and abundant choice will hit the e-commerce industry in 2016.

Releasing the paper D S Rawat, Secretary General of Assocham said, India's e-commerce market was worth about $3.8 billion in 2009. It went up to $17 billion in 2014 and to $23 billion in 2015 and is expected to touch whopping $38 billion mark by 2016.

On the other hand, mobile commerce (m-commerce) is growing rapidly as a stable and secure supplement to the e-commerce industry. Shopping online through smart phones is proving to be a game changer, and industry leaders believe that m-commerce could contribute up to 70 per cent of their total revenues.

The paper reveals that Mumbaikars topped online shopping in India in 2015. Mumbai was flowed by Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Kolkata in their preference for online shopping in 2015.

“The customer is connected 24x7 through their smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices which is leading to a gradual evolution of e-commerce into mobile commerce and there is an issue of convenience which also leads to impulsive buying,” Rawat said.

The browsing trends, which have broadly shifted from the desktop to mobile devices in India, online shopping is also expected to follow suit, as one out of three customers currently makes transactions through mobile phones in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities. In 2015, 78 per cent of shopping queries were made through mobile devices, compared to 46 per cent in 2013, said Rawat.

According to the Assocham paper, the highest growth rate n e-commerce in 2015 was in the apparel segment at almost 69.5 per cent over last year, followed by electronic items at 62 per cent, baby care products at 53 per cent, beauty and personal care products at 52 per cent and home furnishings at 49 per cent.

The most important contributing factor to the rapid growth of digital commerce in India is the increasing use of smartphones. Mobiles and mobile accessories have taken up the maximum share of the digital commerce market in India, the paper said.

Almost 45 per cent of online shoppers reportedly preferred cash on delivery mode of payment over credit cards (16 per cent) and debit cards (21 per cent). Only 10 per cent opted for Internet Banking and a scanty 7 per cent preferred cash cards, mobile wallets, and other such modes of payment.

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