New Delhi, Dec 08 (FN Bureau) The pandemic has affected many businesses and people all over the world. In countries like India, however, certain industries continue to thrive despite the health crisis. The e-commerce industry in the country has always been growing steadily in the last few years. However, now that many people are staying at home, this appears to be beneficial to online stores and businesses.
People are now more inclined to order and do their businesses and hobbies online as social distancing and lockdowns are implemented in different parts of the country. Because of this, people are ordering food and groceries online. Some are socializing online through social media and by playing games. Betting sites with Neteller in India are also becoming more preferred. Now that the festive season is coming, it was recently reported by Unicommerce, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, that the e-commerce industry in the country has seen nearly 56 percent growth in order volume. Unicommerce analyzed the shopping trends for the festive month last year and this year. The period for the analysis of this report ran for 30 days. This was done before Diwali and the sample size that they used was over 44 million orders.
Because of this, the increase in order volume also led to a 50 percent growth in gross merchandise value or GMV also compared to last year’s festive season. Unicommerce also found that not just marketplaces but also brand websites have experienced huge growth in consumer demand this festive season. According to the same SaaS platform, big brands are now more committed to selling through their websites. With this, big brands witnessed around 77 percent order volume growth. Meanwhile, online marketplaces experienced 60 percent order volume growth. When it comes to the most popular category that people shopped for, personal care is on the top spot. It is the biggest gainer with nearly 176 percent order volume growth compared to how it was last year. The electronics category remains to be the highlight of the sales. Almost all marketplaces are promoting sales and discounts on electronics. This particular segment has a growth of 65 percent in order volume. Another category that stole the spotlight is beauty and wellness. Based on the report, this segment has reached 52 percent of order volume growth during this season.
The CEO of Unicommerce, KapilMakhija spoke about the growth of the e-commerce business in the country in a statement. Makhija said, “This festive month we have seen e-commerce grow beyond expectations, and it’s interesting to see the new emerging categories like personal care and beauty and wellness continuing their growth trajectory even during the festive season.”With the rising consumer demand on brand websites, brands are now committed to going D2C (direct-to-consumer) and offering great deals to attract more consumers.” For this year’s festive season, 59 percent of the online consumer demand in India is from Tier II and beyond cities of India. The traditional metros and Tier-I cities then contributed around 41 percent of the overall online retail sales. Payoneer has also reported that India is one of the countries with the biggest e-commerce market. The company has said that the global e-commerce revenue grew by 80 percent in the second and third quarters of this year. The pandemic has something to do with the big shift. “What was previously a gentle slope of growth has now taken a sharp and steep incline,” read a report by Payoneer, which provides a digital platform for global commerce for millions of small businesses, marketplaces, and enterprises across 200 countries and territories. “The year 2020 has seen a decade of growth within just a few months and it was observed that India has been amongst the top 10 countries in cross-border e-commerce growth. As countries enforced full or partial lockdowns to contain the spread of Covid-19, online shopping behavior and consumption patterns cemented into a new reality,”according to Payoneer’s report.
India has ranked nine when it comes to the top e-commerce countries. Included in the top ten list are China, United States, Hong Kong, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Vietnam, and Japan. Overall, India is one of the biggest e-commerce markets worldwide. The industry is expected to be worth around 250 billion US dollars before the year ends. The revenue that is expected to be gained from this industry by the end of this year is at 120 billion US dollars. This is with an annual growth rate of 51 percent, which is the highest in the world.