Online shopping sets new record in India

Inflation and slower economic growth have failed to dampen the online shopping trend in India.

Online shopping there rose 85 per cent in 2013, reveals ASSOCHAM.

“The increasing Internet penetration and availability of more payment options boosted the e-commerce industry in 2013. Besides electronics gadgets, categories like apparel and jewellery, home and kitchen appliances, lifestyle accessories like watches, books, beauty products and perfumes, baby products have witnessed a significant upward movement in last one year,” said D S Rawat, secretary general ASSOCHAM.

Rawat said India’s e-commerce market was worth about US$2.5 billion in 2009, it went up to US$6.3 billion in 2011 and to US$16 billion in 2013 and is expected to touch whopping US$56 billion by 2023 which will be 6.5 per cent of the total retail market.

Last year saw a significant upward movement due to aggressive online discounting, rising fuel price and a wider choice on products.

Mumbai people left behind all other cities in India shopping online. Delhi ranked second, Kolkata third.

The reasons for online shoppers number multiplying are because of factors such as home delivery which saves time, secondly ’24×7′ hours shopping with ease and availability factors for product comparisons.

Many small companies have also established online stores for group buying, which enable customers to obtain goods at a discount so long as a certain number of people make the purchases.

Rawat said, shopping centres, whole sale markets and supermarkets should create their online stores to reduce costs and develop product-tracking systems.

Among the above age segments, 18-25 year olds were the fastest to embrace shopping online, with little difference between males and females. The top five popular categories accessed online are social networking, portals, search, entertainment and news sites, adds ASSOCHAM.

With more India’s online shopping registering a phenomenal 100 per cent annual growth, many retail chains and consumer durable companies are joining the web bandwagon to tap the e-shopping market.

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