E Commerce The Indian Market Scenario
E-Commerce:The Indian Market Scenario Author:Gaurav Karmarkar
In simple terms,e-commerce(electronic-commerce) refers to exchange of goods that takes place online i.e via the internet.Based on valuation,75% of the e-commerce in India is travel related(airline tickets,railway tickets,hotel bookings etc) while actual online shopping accounts for a mere 12-13%.The present day growth of the Indian e-commerce market is marked at about 30% which is nearly more than thrice that of the average 8-10% growth in the sector in other countries.Yet there is tremendous scope for growth in this sector considering the ever-increasing availability of high-speed internet facilities at reasonable rates.
China’s Alibaba is the world’s largest e-commerce platform. In 2013, its online sales totalled $248 billion, more than eBay and Amazon combined.While Flipkart, the country’s closest parallel to Alibaba, isn’t listed on any exchange, a $1 billion injection of funds in May'14 suggests the company is worth around $5 billion. That would make it India’s most valuable e-commerce firm, worth about 3% of the value of Alibaba.
The cash on delivery(COD) is something very unique to the Indian market or a peculiar characteristic of online purchasing in any developing economy for that matter and accounts for about 80% of the total value of the products purchased online.It enables buyers to pay for the product at the time of its delivery(very suitable indeed to the classic Indian middle-class mentality!);but experts say that this may prove to be a curse for the e-commerce industry in the long run.
E-commerce in India can be broadly classified into 3 sectors as:
Online travel-
Online travel has traditionally been the largest e-Commerce sub-sector (by revenue) in India. To improve margins with online retail, online travel players are diversifying their offerings to include hotel reservations, along with the regular ticketing services. They however need to develop skill sets that are
In simple terms,e-commerce(electronic-commerce) refers to exchange of goods that takes place online i.e via the internet.Based on valuation,75% of the e-commerce in India is travel related(airline tickets,railway tickets,hotel bookings etc) while actual online shopping accounts for a mere 12-13%.The present day growth of the Indian e-commerce market is marked at about 30% which is nearly more than thrice that of the average 8-10% growth in the sector in other countries.Yet there is tremendous scope for growth in this sector considering the ever-increasing availability of high-speed internet facilities at reasonable rates.
China’s Alibaba is the world’s largest e-commerce platform. In 2013, its online sales totalled $248 billion, more than eBay and Amazon combined.While Flipkart, the country’s closest parallel to Alibaba, isn’t listed on any exchange, a $1 billion injection of funds in May'14 suggests the company is worth around $5 billion. That would make it India’s most valuable e-commerce firm, worth about 3% of the value of Alibaba.
The cash on delivery(COD) is something very unique to the Indian market or a peculiar characteristic of online purchasing in any developing economy for that matter and accounts for about 80% of the total value of the products purchased online.It enables buyers to pay for the product at the time of its delivery(very suitable indeed to the classic Indian middle-class mentality!);but experts say that this may prove to be a curse for the e-commerce industry in the long run.
E-commerce in India can be broadly classified into 3 sectors as:
Online travel-
Online travel has traditionally been the largest e-Commerce sub-sector (by revenue) in India. To improve margins with online retail, online travel players are diversifying their offerings to include hotel reservations, along with the regular ticketing services. They however need to develop skill sets that are