India is not yet ready to experience the potential of e-commerce, but it will in the near future. One of the crucial reasons is data plans from telecom companies in India being much cheaper than in China and USA. This is why the common man in rural as well as in the urban area has access to the internet. India is now improving the optic-fiber networks under Bharat net Project and even the digital payments which will surely fuel the growth of e-commerce in India. The young Population is the driving force because over 60% of India’s population is under the age of 35; the value of e-commerce market is expected to cross US$ 50 billion by 2018. No wonder Worldpay predicts that by 2034, India will be the world’s second-largest e-commerce market. Currently, few e-commerce players have their own unique selling proposition and they have different marketing concept as well, also many players in this field operate at a loss as they lack in research about their target audience. The e-commerce sector can bridge the gap between the logistical challenges and lack of awareness and encourage more people to achieve their aims while contributing to the development of the society. Hence, to open up new Opportunities this platform should evolve by inculcating this in the minds of the people. The Unified Payment Interface (UPI) which will make transferring funds and online payments easier than before and will reduce India’s dependence on cash, and the burden on the RBI to print it. It will also alleviate risks for buyers and sellers and by bringing stakeholders like the merchants, consumers and the banks on a common platform, creating excess of unheard services in today’s global payment offerings. In return, this will bring up many innovative ventures, big and small. It will also encourage them to build sales and create awareness among them. The growth of e-commerce highlights as well as provides the various advantages to companies and businesses by effectively and efficiently increasing their sales, spreading information, blooming new technologies, promoting and selling products and services.
Common applications of E-commerce that can help India evolve are Document automation in supply chain and logistics, Domestic and international payment systems, Enterprise content management, Automated online assistants, Newsgroups, Instant messaging, Online banking ,Online office suites, Online shopping, Teleconferencing, and purchasing electronic tickets.
Indian E-commerce space percentage is getting higher as more and more online retailers are entering the market, thus keeping the competition quite high. Internet penetration and adoption of smartphones is giving pace to the e-commerce in India. The cases of Internet fraud are increasing at an alarming rate so that companies using e-commerce must have means to protect the transmission of personal data. In this situation, people expect companies to protect, and most people want more conclusive evidence that information is safe, this might be one of the reasons why Internet at all levels has increased but e-commerce activities are not progressing at the same speed.
As a conclusion, we can say that E-commerce will be the key for tomorrow’s startups and will help the merchants to know their target audience, individual customers, better engage with them, anticipate their needs, gain profits and eventually increase their customer value. This is a major challenge for a market that is expected to have 175 Million online shoppers by 2020.
— – Kiran Jadhav
Will e-commerce lead India to a bright future?
