I have often noticed this fact typical to the Indian
Consumer- considering their restlessness and the variety of choices available
in the market, they are ruthless in terms of giving failures another chance. Chances
for recovery when a particular car model fails to appeal or when a mobile
network fails to deliver on its promises are very bleak. But there is one area
where they have been immensely patient and forgiving so far. This is the
magnitude of impact the lower pricing of e-commerce has had on the Indian shopper.
If recent events like the Flipkart Big Billion Day and
Snapdeal Big Savings day are to go by, it has exposed the lack of attention to
the backend and delivery systems. People I know are still sceptic of buying
shoes and clothing online as long as the manufacturing and size standards are
not established. Big budget purchasing of furniture through e-commerce is not
recommended in my opinion as their prices are still higher than what a large
scale furniture retailer might offer. Not to mention, it is always advisable to
verify the quality of material and workmanship along with exact dimension (which
I found do vary in reality) of the units.
If all these do make my sentiments towards e-commerce a bit
negative, I am still one of the millions in India who is fuelling this huge
wave of ‘internet enabled shopaholics’. And if the data from last week’s Google
annual online shopping growth trends report is anything to go by, (http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/google-says-indian-e-commerce-market-to-hit-15-bn-by-2016-114112000835_1.html)
India will have 100 million online shoppers by 2016 and the market will be
worth a whopping USD 15 billion from USD 3 Billion today. Also, the report
mentions that Mobile phones emerged as an important access device for online
shoppers with 1 out of 3 online buyers transacting on their mobile phones in
Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. In terms of numbers, 50% queries come from mobiles
and this was at 24% in 2012. A key driver for the rural consumer is the social
elevation offered by the access to the best brands sitting in their own towns
and the ability to order over mobile internet.
Experts are now ready to acknowledge the fact that what
happened in many other global market by virtue of desktops is happening in
India via mobile phones and apps. This is the space where we have to
acknowledge the fact that by December 2014, India is poised to become the 2nd
largest market with mobile phone subscribers in the world. With 300 million
subscribers, India will launch past the United States and yet be short by half
to the 600 million in China. But the point to note in this case is the rise in numbers
of the rural consumers. It is this mass segment which is now the driving force
in e-commerce. (http://www.afaqs.com/news/story/42537_India-to-cross-300-Million-Internet-Users-by-December-2014)
Imagine the numbers- internet users have increased by 39 per cent to reach 101
million in October 2014. It is expected to reach 112 million by December 2014
and 138 million by June 2015.
It just takes my mind back to the actions by the Ministry to
Communication & IT in 1999 when they implemented the Universal Service
Obligation. Under this, all telecom operators were required to develop the
rural telecom infrastructure at a minimum of 10% of its urban presence as well
as further licenses were issued in accordance. The seeds sowed then are bearing
fruits today with a 100 million new customers added in just one year as we went
from 200 to 300 million.
If we correlate the two reports, there is a definite synergy
between the rise of e-commerce in India with the rise of internet access via mobile.
Much as India never had a dominant industrial revolution as in the West before
the service based economy took shape, we have skipped the dominant phases of
the desktops, landlines, land based internet and directly arrived to the highs
of the mobile phones and mobile internet. The penetration of retail in the form
of shopping malls is limited, but the penetration of mobile app based
e-commerce is on the rise.
The wave of e-commerce is like a juggernaut- with the
ability to breach the divides of physical limitations and access. The driving
force here is the ever growing number of mobile connections and mobile internet
capabilities at the hands of millions of Indians; which is paving the road at a
super pace.
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