In According to a paper released by ICICI Merchant Services and First Data, the rapid growth of e-commerce in India is being driven by greater customer choice and improved convenience.
The Indian e-com market is currently pegged around Rs 50,000 crore for the year 2011 out of which 80 per cent is just travel related. Online retailing comprises a lowly 15 per cent. The number of online shoppers in the country is estimated at around 10 million.
The paper says that the growth of e-com is at an inflection point and is likely to be driven by these key factors: growing broadband penetration (35 per cent month-on-month), rising standards of living, larger choice of products online compared to a physical store, and busy lifestyles coupled with traffic congestion (which leaves little time for shopping).
Some interesting observations from the paper include: direct imports constituting a large component of online sales; demand for internation consumer products growing much faster than in-country supply from authorised distributors; and cash-on-delivery being the preferred payment method (80 per cent).
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