The e-commerce industry is one of the sectors that is expanding its market size in India. But after the widespread of COVID-19, it seems that the world is on “pause” mode. The economies of all the countries got a blow, and most of the businesses seem to be struck.

Therefore India also faced many economic downfalls soon after the cases of Coronavirus were identified, chaos was created, and people were advised to stay in their homes to prevent the deadly microorganism’s attack.

As a safer means of shopping, people now prefer online over the offline retail store. While comparing Indian e-commerce, the retail market of around 850 billion dollars experienced a big push in 2020. More and more people are opting for an e-commerce platform due to safety and convenience. Let’s look at this subject in-depth.

Transitions in the Indian e-commerce industry in 2020

• Not limited to metro-political cities

In the initial steps of e-commerce, it was observed that the reach of e-commerce was primarily catering orders of people living in metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and other major cities. But as the Indian e-commerce was going through an evolution phase, the popularity of online shopping caught users from small towns as well. But a broader picture came into the mainstream in 2020. By a report presented by Bian & Company and Flipkart, it was observed that online shoppers in Tier-II and small towns constitute more than 50% of total online shoppers, and their order contributes to 3 out of every 5 orders for top retail market platforms.

• Double boost in online sales 

Presently, the Indian e-commerce sector shares 3.4 percent of the overall market. But the top-notch Indian companies observed a very high positive response from their consumers through online mode. People are worried about getting infected if they shop at the offline outlets and are directed to the online channel to get the same products.

According to Sanjiv Mehta – the chairman of Hindustan Unilever, the largest Indian FMCG company, many of their physical stores are still not opened, but this has not curbed their sales. Presently there is a hesitation in the crowd for offline shopping, and thus many offline outlets may remain shut for a while.

In 2017, the online grocery sales contribution was just 1%, but now in 2020, it is around 1.9%, which is almost double. Even the online sales contribution of Parle products jumped up and has doubled to 4% of the overall sales.

Apart from the necessary products, people are switching to online shopping for other types of products. This trend changed the online sales of other sectors too. The online sales of Godrej doubled to 8-10% of the overall sales.

• Swift from offline to the online retail market

As there seems to be a change in customer behavior and the growth of e-commerce favored many online businesses, the retailer tried their best to hold this momentum and capitalize it well. Many retailers started selling their goods online. Initially, they started with the necessary items, but later on, they added other products according to the market demand.

According to the experts, even the local retail has to move their store to this online channel to fairly compete with local stores present in the neighbourhood as they are also adopting digital technology to improve their sales in the lockdown period.

As per Walmart India Chief Digital Officer Chandan Khaitan, customers are sticking to online shopping even after the relaxation in the lockdown. Also, Walmart seems to observe four times more sales through online mode in 2020. LOTS Wholesale Solutions MD, Tanit Chearavanont, also affirmed that there is a change in consumer behavior, which is leading to reinforcement of new habits towards online channels of shopping. They are even focusing on online business strategy and also observing a healthy number of orders.

Launching store on an online platform- a path of great opportunities

According to the Boston Consulting Group, it is estimated that India will have 850 million online shoppers by 2025, which is a significant number. So migrating your online store to a top e-commerce platform is a wise decision. But to multiply the growth, you can take expert help for your online marketplace management. Contact Visveya today and get professional solutions to handle the e-commerce store’s operations at each phase. From inventory management to shipping orders on the timeline, everything can be managed effectively by Visveya so that you have ample time to plan the strategy for the business.

So move with the market trend to upscale your sales!

References

https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/covid-19-momentum-in-online-app-based-sales-to-continue-for-retailers-120062900038_1.html

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/cons-products/fmcg/online-sales-doubles-for-top-consumer-brands-in-india-due-to-covid-19/articleshow/76533563.cms

https://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/with-3-out-of-5-orders-tier-ii-smaller-towns-leads-online-sales/story/407132.html