Online sales to rise 5-fold this festive season: Assocham

The online shopping marts are going aggressive about marketing their merchandise and are wooing customers by heavy discounts and combo offers. As a result, consumers are expected to splurge about $8 billion (Rs 52,000 crore) during this festive season, the latest Assocham study said.

Clothes, accessories, footwear, electronic items, etc are among the merchandise being sold aggressively through online platforms, and e-commerce firms are expecting to rake in 40-45 per cent more in sales during this season.

The big brands are in tie up with popular e-commerce retailers and are hard selling through full page advertisements, Internet and television, adds the study.

The increase in e-commerce sales, at least in big cities would be at the cost of the brick and mortar bazaars, especially in regard to products like fashion wear, mobile phones, etc, says the study.

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

Between September and December, about 50-55 per cent of consumers spend on buying clothes and goods in India, states the report which further adds, consumers are turning to the Internet savvy e-commerce because of the fast and simple payment and delivery service.

One of the driving factors for the increase in online shopping is the age profile of the consumers who are young between 15-35 years. This segment is quite net savvy and enjoys doing new type of shopping experience, virtually from their desk top in office, lap tops at home or even android based phones.

As per the Assocham study, online shopping pattern has been changing in tier-I and tier-II towns, where the broadband Internet connectivity has already penetrated.  The most popular among the e-commerce websites – Snapdeal, Myntra, Flipkart, Amazon, Jabong etc have been doling out massive price cuts or discounts on purchase of popular brands of apparel, footwear, electronic goods, coinciding with the upcoming festive month. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India