E-COMMERCE IN INDIA

Posted by Nick Shaw on November 12th, 2018

The fast development of telecommunications technology in the past few decades is changing many aspects of our lives, how we search for information, how we travel and not at least how we buy products or services. Although classic shop-based retail is still preferred, e-commerce or electronic commerce, namely the buying and selling of products and services exclusively through electronic channels, is gaining ground. The most well-known form of e-commerce or electronic commerce is online shopping, also known as business to consumer e-commerce (B2C), where private customers can order various products which they then receive by courier or postal mail. Another category of e-commerce focuses on transactions between companies, such as manufacturers and a wholesalers or wholesalers and retailers and is called business to business e-commerce (B2B). The third category of e-commerce involves transactions from consumer to consumer (C2C), as in the example of eBay or other similarwebsites.

With an expected 33 percent of the global market in 2015 and over 37 percent in 2018, the Asia Pacific region is becoming the leader of the e-commerce industry. In fact, China, due to its unprecedented economic boom, is not only driving the region’s leadership, but is also set to outdo the United States as the single country with the largest e-commerce market in the world. Another emerging Asian market in terms of e-commerce is India. Recent statistics show that retail e-commerce sales in India have grown tremendously, from 2.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2012 to an estimated 17.5 billion U.S. dollars, representing an almost eight-fold growth. As of 2015, the retail e-commerce sales as a percent of total retail sales in India are set to account for 0.9 percent of all retail sales in India, but this figure is also expected to grow in the near future, reaching 1.4 percent in2018.

By 2016 a number of 653 million people in the Asia Pacific region are expected to buy goods and services online, a figure which translates into over 48 percent of internet users in the Asia Pacific region purchasing products  or services online. Some of the most popular product categories among Online shoppers in the region include airline tickets and reservations, baby supplies, cosmetics, clothing, accessories and shoes, as well as computer hardware and software. According to recent data, the number of digital buyers in India alone is expected to reach 41 million by 2016, representing some 27 percent of the total number of internet users in the country.

      TRENDS IN E-COMMERCE IN VARIOUS SECTORS

The internet is changing the way people do business.

      Retail

E-commerce has grown at very rapid pace in last few years in India. Growth in internet & mobile phone penetration has changed the retail environment. Shopping habits of customers, customer expectations and customer preferences are also changing with change in retail environment. Large variety of choices, easy comparison, convenience for purchase, and doorstep delivery are  major driving force for customers using e-commerce platform. Above it, ‘Cash-on-delivery’ and convenient return process has increased the customer trust on e-commerce. But, e-commerce and e-tailing in India has still a long way to go. The way the business is moving and the increasing thrust on e-commerce is re-proving the country’s consumption story. E-commerce or e-tailing is the recent paradigm that retailers have had to also confront and already 75 per cent of retailers have adopted e-commerce in some form and globally, retailing has already graduated to a multi-channel. Retailers have been able to help consumers feel more comfortable shoppingonline.

      Banking

Online Banking is becoming an important aspect of worldwide commerce. Online Banking  is also known as e-banking, cyber banking, virtual banking, net banking, and internet banking. Online banking includes various banking activities conducted from home business, instead of at a physical bank location. Customer relationship management worked as a tool increased use of e-commerce makes CRM. Online banking is based on internet or web-based interaction to create a high volatile relationship in the banking sector. Questions are related to online banking in which given options are Satisfied, Unsatisfied, Neutral, Yes, No. After analysis and comparison of traditional  banking  of online banking, it is revealed that it is quite difficult, if not impossible, to suggest that which online banking is best. Online banking provides the flexibility, efficiency of work, provide the better security of net banking. The future of web-based e-banking in developed areas appears bright but consumers and merchants in developing countries face in number of barriers to successful e-banking, including less reliable telecommunications infrastructure and power supplies, less access to online payment mechanisms and relatively high costs for personal computers and Internetaccess.

      Tourism

New technologies are providing different channels for marketing and management that improve the capabilities of society. And computers are providing faster and more reliable processing  with lower costcontinually.The Internet is not the full solution to success in the Hospitality and Tourism industry. However, the Internet is the “overall business answer” across industries. The raise in travelers over the time has also driven IT demand on offering high quality products at low costs to the customers. The success of the Hospitality and Tourism industry will depend upon the abilities to identify and answer quickly to current and potential customer needs. IT is playing a major role in “servicing” customers.

      Government

E-government refers to the application of e-commerce technologies to government and public services. In the same way that e-business can be understood as transactions with customers (citizens), suppliers and internal communications, e-government covers a  similar  range  of  applications: Citizens – facilities for dissemination of information and use of online services at local and national levels.

      Education

Education sector has always been considered to be one of the biggest gainers from the Internet. India’s education market is growing at a rapid pace. According to India Ratings and Research Pvt. Ltd. E-learning is one of the fastest growing industries and the large players want a share of that pie.

E-education brings customized content as per learning style, collaborative learning, self-paced learning, saves on time and definitely is cost-effective. One of the best advantages of e-learning/ education is reducing dependence on traditional system of learning, and allow teachers and students open up to the global knowledge. Online education is quickly becoming a major phenomenon around the world. The ease, access, convenience and lower cost it offers appeal to people just about everywhere.