India's e-retail market is estimated to reach about $50 billion in 2022 and grow at more than 25 per cent per annum to touch $150-170 billion by 2027. This is likely to be fueled by fashion, grocery and general merchandise that will account for up to two-third of e-retail by 2027. It is also expected that the rising numbers of online shopper base in India, particularly from low-tier cities, is all set to make it Asia's third largest economy. These observations were made by Anurag Mathur, Partner - Consumer Goods and Retail, Bain and Company during the inaugural session of the sixth edition of the two-day 'Internet Commerce Summit' that commenced in Bengaluru.
He said over 60 per cent of the new online shoppers came from the breadth of Bharat and one in three online shoppers belonged to the low-income segment and were below the age of 25. Mathur said the rising penetration of the internet has enabled India to add 40-50 million online shoppers in 2021.
Experts observed that India's transition toward the digital economy had made the country the second major digital adapter among digital economies globally. “Though e-commerce is at a nascent 3-4 per cent of India's total retail sector, it is playing a vital role in the D2C (direct to consumer) revolution with digital-first brands doing well and the shopping experience becoming highly personalised,” pointed Manish Tiwary, chairman of the Internet Commerce Summit and vice president- India Consumer Business, Amazon.
Experts pointed out that the consumer journey is no longer linear with the rising number of online platforms and the multiplication of consumer touch points. “Revenue, reputation and retention are becoming a challenge as exceptional customer experience is only going to make people feel, recommend and re-use the brand again,” remarked Prateek Sinha, Partner Experience Consulting, PwC.
During the conference, it was observed that surging e-commerce space in India is making the country's standards body—Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS)—to engage with stakeholders in the e-commerce space to establish standards with the objective of self-regulation.
"Standardisation would allow parties to transact any qualified commodities and services at any location and time. BIS had recently come up with standards for e-commerce players, travel portals and food delivery platforms, that publish consumer reviews online as part of the government's efforts to curb fake reviews," remarked Parul Gupta, deputy director, BIS.
She said the objective is to monitor solicited and unsolicited views about their products by the manufacturers themselves. Over the last few years, there has been a steady rise in reviews that would affect the purchase decision by consumers, necessitating an intervention by the regulator on these reviews.