Indian ecommerce seems to be ‘full of sound and fury, signifying nothing’. With a meagre 3% population (39 million) choosing to shop online, the industry has to go miles before reaching a fulcrum to claim success.
At a time when billions of dollars are being pumped in and ecommerce companies are brainstorming strategies to retain customers, a reality check by management consultancy AT Kearney has unearthed these not-so-satisfactory facts.
According to a news report by Huffington Post India, India doesn't figure in the top 30 nations in the 2015 Global Retail E-commerce index. With a market size of $3.8 billion, online sales in India are not even a third of Brazil's $13 billion. Countries like Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Chile and Ireland are relatively at a better position than India.
With a market worth of $238 billion, the USA tops the chart followed by China, the UK, Japan and Germany. The ecommerce companies in India penetrating into Tier II and Tier III cities with innovating Cash-on-Delivery and EMI options are still in the initial struggling phase. The hurdle to reach the breakeven point in the business may be blamed on India’s average snail pace internet speed of 2Mbps, the lowest in Asia-Pacific, and ranked 115th globally.
With some of the biggies in terms of investors joining hands with Snapdeal, Flipkart, Ola Cabs, Urban Ladders and Common Floor, the profitability of the ecommerce giants is expected to grow at 21 percent in the next five years.
(Image: Reuters)