E-COMMERCE: A GAME CHANGER FOR THE INDIAN ECONOMY

Abstract

E-commerce is one of the most influential developments of the Internet age, yet in many ways it is still in its relative infancy. Present study was conducted to know the current trends for E-commerce Industry in Indian Economy.  Online transactions make up only 7% all retail in the United States, up from 2.8 percent in 2006. The growth of e-commerce is even more pronounced in emerging markets such as India, where online retail sales jumped from 3% in 2010 to 34 percent in 2014.China is the largest market for e-commerce globally, followed by theUS, and the fastest growing one isIndia. E-commerce has transformed the way business is done inIndia. With attractive and convenient shopping options at the core of the consumer facing business, the e-commerce industry offers the power to create innovative, sustainable, consistent and seamless shopping experience across all channels.India is a massive E-Commerce marketplace now with every age group comfortably transacting online – more often preferring shopping online instead of visiting offline stores for a bigger gamut of choices and offers. The West shops online 10X more thanIndia, but thenIndia has the world’s 2nd largest number of smart phones and growing.

The most well-known form of e-commerce is online shopping, also known as business to consumer e-commerce, where private customers can order various products which they then receive by courier or postal mail. Another category of e-commerce focuses on transactions between companies, called business to business e-commerce. The third category of e-commerce involves transactions from consumer to consumer, as in the example of eBay or other similar websites.  India’s e-commerce market is worth about Rs.50,000 crores in 2011.  About 80% of this is travel related (airlines, railway tickets, hotel bookings, online mobile recharge etc.).  Online retailing comprises about 15%.  India has close to 10 million online shoppers and is growing at an estimated 40-45%. E-Commerce industry is growing at an astounding rate in India and is expected to account for 1.61% of the global GDP by 2018. The Asia-Pacific region is currently the largest E-Commerce market in the world, surpassing Europe. While China continues to lead the race, the Indian E-Commerce Industry isn’t far behind. According to a report, India is set to become the fastest growing market in the Asia-Pacific region with an expected growth rate of over 57% between 2012-2016   Mobile is also a profitable and promising shopping platform for the retail industry in India. In fact, about 49 percent of Indian consumers stated that they used a mobile device for making a purchase in 2016. This places India as one of the leading digital markets for mobile e-commerce penetration.India is adding three new Internet users every second. Internet penetration connects players, enables transactions and thus enables retailing in a decentralized manner.

E-Commerce is the future of retail and it will play a big role inIndiaspecifically.  There are several scenarios that could describe howIndiawill be 20 years from now and what role e-commerce inIndiawill be huge.