India’s online retail sector failed to match the growth of ecommerce in mature and far larger markets such as the United States and China this year, despite recovering quickly after the nationwide lockdown and the most successful festive sales period ever.
“We were not lucky like other countries. Growth of ecommerce was less than 10% because we lost a lot of momentum during those three months (of the lockdown) and the companies were not ready to deliver essential goods,” said Satish Meena, senior forecast analyst at Forrester Research.
With Internet penetration expected to almost double to 60% by 2022, the country is arguably the world’s most promising Internet economy, with a rapidly increasing ‘netizen’ population. With improving data affordability, consumption growth and newer financial products, the e-commerce market is set to grow, be it across e-tail, travel, consumer services or online financial services. From the next set of online shoppers, three out of every four customers are expected to come from Tier II cities or beyond, and a vast majority of them would be less tech-savvy, seek greater transparency from brands and prefer consuming content in local languages.
India’s movement towards e-com economy
