Future of e-Commerce

Web Marketing & E-commerce

Oct 31, 2015

284 Views

“The worldwide spread of internet accessibility via desktops and smartphones is driving an expansion of ecommerce that is continuously changing the retailing landscape. It is also changing the way India trades and shops. A large number of SMBs are now selling online, the channel contributing a significant portion of revenue for these businesses. Snapdeal has 100,000 plus SMBs doing business on its platform currently, thousands of these sell goods worth more than $250,000 annually only on the Snapdeal platform. A growing number of small start-up retailers also find internet as an easy & inexpensive way to build brands and sell products. Online marketplaces for these SMBs are driving the digital commerce growth in India. To stay relevant in the market, ecommerce players need to focus on not only expanding sellers and selection on their platforms but also ensuring the existing sellers have adequate capacity to meet the consumer demand. We at Snapdeal thru our ‘Capital Assist’ program provide financial assistance to SMBs doing business with us; these SMBs have been largely left out of the traditional banking channel. On the consumer front, lack of organized offline retail beyond metros coupled with proliferation of cheap smartphones and falling data charges are driving the online commerce in India. While ecommerce is still growing in urban markets, the exponential growth is being driven by the Tier 2 & 3 cities. At Snapdeal, 70% of our consumers are from outside metros primarily driven by Mobile commerce; 71% of Snapdeal sales are from these markets. Most ecommerce players are working towards seamlessly integrating all the consumer touch points – mobile phones, desktops and tablets. The need to be present across multiple channels is blurring the lines between online and offline retail. Businesses are continuously using a combination of both online and offline channels to engage with customers and provide a wholesome shopping experience. Omni-Commerce is coming together of offline and online retail providing the customers the best of both worlds. With Omni channel, a customer would be able to buy online and collect / return offline. Recent trends have also led to the emergence of a new set of players who are setting up mobile only marketplaces and tapping social media to grow customer base. Emerging new digital product categories are also significantly driving the ecommerce growth and primarily contributing to the increased frequency of transactions online. Currently there are 75 million mobile recharges daily in India, majority of these would move online in not so distant future increasing the online share of a customer’s wallet. Periodically purchased low involvement products like consumables, magazines, can also be subscribed through websites and delivered to customers regularly. It will help in acquiring customers over long term, predicting demand and streamlining inventory accordingly. While India's retail trade is dominated by cash transactions, growth in online payments continues to outpace growth in other payment methods. Number of users transacting online is expected to reach 100 million by the end of this year; this will lead to more innovation in the payments space resulting in simpler and incrementally secure payment options. Among other benefits, Snapdeal provides its customers easy finance options for high value transactions. To provide customers an outstanding shopping experience and outrun competition, large ecommerce players are focusing on building the last mile delivery network or hyper local delivery networks. Multiple offline/online retailers are partnering with local delivery services to help them deliver their goods at required destinations quickly. To summarize, unique changes to the existing business model which can get more sellers & customers to transact online, integrated and improved multiple touch points, identifying categories which drive frequency of usage coupled with innovative payments and quick delivery will be the key to success in the Indian ecommerce domain. It is critical for all players to build an ecosystem encompassing all the mentioned areas for digital commerce rather than just monolithic platforms. We, at Snapdeal, are constantly innovating our existing business model and bringing about such changes which will help us in not only improving the seller and customer experience but also stay competitive in this dynamic industry.”

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