E-tailers to see 25% growth in festive season: Assocham

03 Oct '16

2 min read

Indian e-commerce websites are likely to register record-breaking sales worth up to Rs 25,000 crore and highest ever purchase rate per minute this festive season, says a recent survey. Consumers spent over Rs 20,000 crore in the festive season of last year and the e-retail sites are expected to clock in a growth of close to 25 per cent this year.

Trade and industry body Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) interacted with about 2,500 working men and women in the age group of 25 to 40 years for its survey-cum-analysis on purchasing patterns of consumers during the festive season that began on October 1. The survey was conducted in prominent cities like Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai.

About 60 per cent of the total respondents have expressed their intentions of shopping online citing ease of shopping, various delivery options, diverse payment modes and better offers as key reasons. A majority of the respondents have revealed that they will make the most of the lucrative deals and discounts offered by the e-commerce sites on apparel and other products.

“Most of the e-tailers have already jumped on the bandwagon for running promotional offers like deep discounts, exclusive merchandise, cash-back schemes, and other such deals to cash in on festive season frenzy and have set off marketing campaigns to rake in maximum profits. Besides, introduction of premium services like free shipping, extended return period and others together with rise of high-speed internet usage through smartphones are likely to boost online shopping this festive season,” said DS Rawat, secretary general, Assocham.

Assocham also spoke to experts in the field of advanced research, analytics and digital intelligence services who have suggested that e-retailers should gear up to counter various challenges related to logistics and influx of visitors. The analysis says that they can avoid losing customers due to technical issues by taking precautionary measures like investing in large servers or cloud hosting services.

Some other suggestions by the experts to tackle competitors include easy website navigation, introduction of festive product categories and ensuring a responsive website. They should also maintain stock levels, showcase related products in case they run out of certain goods and display correct delivery dates, says the survey. (KD)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

More Apparel/Garments News - India...