As India is still grappling with the fallout from COVID-19, we’ve spoken to ecommerce strategists who believe the time is right for brands to leapfrog and take their business to the next level.

One of the strategies being employed by value commerce players is to make e-commerce accessible to consumers across pin codes, while also empowering local sellers and breaking market barriers. In this edition of our India Spotlight, we’ll look at how Indian e-commerce companies are doing just that!

Festivals Weddings

Traditionally, Indian festivals and weddings are a feast for the eyes. They are elaborate, grand affairs with week-long celebrations and fascinating rituals, ranging from mehendi to haldi, and never-ending jamborees.

A number of ecommerce companies in india offer festive discounts to attract customers during this time. These include Amazon Great Indian Festival, Flipkart Big Diwali Sale and Myntra’s Festival Of Deal-ights, among others.

The festive season in india also generates huge revenue for e-commerce companies, according to wealth management firm Bernstein. In October 2022, GMVs (gross merchandise value) of e-commerce firms rose by 26% year on year.

But the e-tailing industry has come under fire from trade bodies such as CAIT for indulging into predatory pricing and deep discounting. CAIT has requested the government to ban e-commerce portals from influencing prices of goods and services, and to probe the companies’ compliance with FDI norms.

Small Towns Villages

Small towns and villages are among the most attractive areas to do ecommerce business. This is because they offer a wide consumer base and a large variety of products at competitive prices.

A village is a settlement of people clustered around a central point, such as a church, marketplace or public space. It is typically larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town.

In India, small towns and villages are a huge potential market for ecommerce companies. According to Red Seer, they contribute 41% of all online shoppers in the country.

To tap this lucrative market, ecommerce companies have started setting warehouses in small towns and are expanding their talent pool to fuel growth. In addition, they are also focusing on last mile connectivity to reach rural consumers.

As a result, the e-commerce industry is growing rapidly in small towns and villages. This is because these areas have a high population and a growing smartphone penetration.

Wide Consumer Base

Wide customer base is a term used to describe a group of customers who purchase goods and services on a regular basis. These customers are important to the success of an ecommerce business and require more care and lead nurturing than smaller, taller customer bases.

Ecommerce in India has grown immensely over the last decade. Phase 1.0 (pre 2015) was characterized by cautious early adoption and restricted to affluent households in metros/tier-1 cities.

Phase 2.0 (2015-20) heralded a era of massification as e-commerce spread to new shoppers across tier-2 and smaller cities, and into new categories such as grocery, pharma and beauty. This period also saw improvements in customer experience through faster delivery (2-4 days), loyalty programs and digital payments, among others.

Despite the dominance of Amazon and Flipkart, local players Jiomart and Snapdeal have started to expand into non-metro towns and villages. In fact, Red Seer estimates that small-town Indians will contribute around 41% of all online shoppers in 2020.

Easy Payment Options

To make your ecommerce company in India work, you need to have easy payment options for your customers. This will boost your online sales and create a better customer experience.

There are several online payment gateways in India that you can use to accept payments. These include UPI, IMPS, NEFT, RTGS and credit/debit cards.

The most popular Indian ecommerce payment gateway is Instamojo, which offers online payments for digital goods. It is free to sign up and can be activated within minutes.

It allows businesses to collect payments from Visa, Master, Diners Club, AMEX, Rupay and wallet. It also supports recurring billing and takes no charges for NEFT/RTGS and bank transfers.

CC Avenue is one of the oldest and biggest payment gateways in India. It supports 200+ payment methods and is multilingual in 18 major Indian and international languages.