India’s E-commerce Industry : The Changing Landscape

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With strong political conditions and a steady economy India is the fastest growing eCommerce market in the Asia-Pacific region and one of the most sought after investment options.

Understanding the Indian E-Commerce Scenario

What is E-commerce? It is the buying and selling of goods, services, transferring funds or data, or any other kind of transaction executed through an electronic network -primarily the Internet. This has also effected a significant change to the concept of time. Now every kind of information is available at a press or click saving a lot of time for businesses or consumers. E-Commerce has become an important tool for consumers, small and large businesses alike around the world.
Government services like e seva (for paying bills and taxes), passport application, birth and death certificates, college applications and examinations and many more services can be accessed on line.
Web commerce is also a form of e commerce which is conducted primarily through the World Wide Web (www) and also through email and other aspects of the Internet.

The Scale of E-Commerce

Electronic ...
... commerce adapts itself to new technologies such as mobile commerce where you can pay utility bills through mobile apps, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, logistics, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange(EDI), inventory management systems and automated data collection system. The list is exhaustive. These transactions are either business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer (C2C) or consumer-to-business (C2B).

The Current Scenario of E-Commerce

E-commerce is available in most fields of business like online goods and services, retail services, eBooks, software, streaming media, Banking, home

delivery, distribution services and logistics. According to IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) Indian digital commerce is at Rs. 1,25,732 crore and has a CAGR growth rate of about 30% from December 2011 to December 2015. In 2016, it is expected to reach Rs. 2,11,005 crore.

The Downside of E-Commerce

However, despite the upbeat figures, there is a flipside to e-commerce as well. It is said that the Indian e-commerce industry has yet to churn out profits.

Flipkart was devalued by 27% by Morgan Stanley and another 15% by T. Rowe Price. Even Zomato, the online restaurant platform, was devalued by 50% to $500

million by HSBC. As per a Livemint report, Flipkart and Snapdeal are stagnant and in fact, are seeing a fall in sales. Additionally, Jabong has reduced on its low-margin brands and Myntra’s app-only strategy took a toll on its revenue so it was back to desktop.

Logistics and E-Commerce

The social ecommerce landscape is also changing, with so many of social networks opening up their systems for selling because there has been a rise in the

less-time-in-hand section of the society. Free home delivery, lucrative offers and deals and ease of operation has made eCommerce a favourite among the

Indian populace and logistics solutions are not far behind. For instance, Gati, India’s leading logistics solutions provider, encompasses after-sales support

and reverse logistics as an integral part of its holistic logistics solutions for maximizing customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, India’s e-commerce scenario may go through many twists and turns but its focus remains the same – multiplying customer satisfaction.