Ecommerce has transformed the way consumers shop in India in the past few years, supported by an increase in Internet and smartphone penetration, a rise in digital literacy, and the government’s digital push. The pandemic has accelerated the shift towards online shopping and the emergence of new variants of the virus will further push people towards shopping online, said the researcher.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has fast-tracked consumers’ transition to digital payments in most markets, a trend also seen in India,” said Ravi Sharma, banking and payments lead analyst at GlobalData. He added that ecommerce payments in India are expected to rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.2% between 2021 and 2025 to hit $120.3 billion.
While Indian consumers were comfortable buying non-essential products such as clothes and electronics even before the pandemic, they are now also comfortable buying essential products such as groceries. Blinkit (formerly Grofers) and BigBasket are the major players in this space, with Amazon and Flipkart also making their mark.
Jasmeet Thind of CoutLoot said, “Social commerce is likely to be largely driven by consumers looking for trust and a bargain, which is quite unique to Indians. It is like digitisation of street shopping and Coutloot has been at the forefront. We are helping these sellers, who are mostly into non-MRP products, to broaden their scope and cater to customers across the country through the use of local languages and video. Now a seller doesn’t need a storefront to do business.”
The rise in ecommerce has also boosted electronic payments in India. To support non-cash payments, Flipkart introduced quick response (QR) code-based payments for pay-on-delivery shipments in June 2021, helping consumers switch from cash to digital payments through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
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