Welcome to e-India’s appistan : The Tribune India

Join Whatsapp Channel

Welcome to e-India’s appistan

FROM head to toe, from mind to heart, and from wander lust to luxury, you name it, they have it.

Welcome to e-India’s appistan


Vijay C Roy in Chandigarh & Sanjeev Sharma in New Delhi

FROM head to toe, from mind to heart, and from wander lust to luxury, you name it, they have it. Wealth has had several siblings; one of them is e-commerce in the retail world these days. A growing number of apps riding on the back of startups, with some angel investors emerging from nowhere, are navigating mindshare, keeping their nose to the biz grindstone, and in the process, fueling the ‘go get it’ attitude. Life looks simpler, at times beautiful. 

Take a look: Shopping: Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong; mobile wallet: Paytm, Freecharge, Oxigen; chatting: Trulymadly, Tinder, WeChat, Airline booking: IndiGo, Air Asia, Jet Airway, plus more; groceries: Bigbasket, Pepper Tap, AskMeBazaar; movie ticket booking: BookMyShow, PVR, INOX, Cinepolis; Travel: Makemytrip, Goibibo, Yatra; Taxi booking: Ola, Uber, Meru, Taxiforsure. And what have you. 

Mobile app usage in India rose 131% over the last year, outpacing the global average, according to panelists at the Apps India conference 2015. Additionally, smartphone users have been tapping into ecommerce apps more often this year (54% in May 2015, compared to 21% May 2014).

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Industry sources say since most start-ups and ecommerce companies have launched their own apps, the demand for app developers has increased by more than 30 per cent over the past two years. Yet, finding the right developer remains a challenge even though each year, about 15 lakh students graduate as engineers in India. The app development segment, on its part, requires engineers who can work on both Android and iOS platforms.

According to a report by independent mobile industry market research and consultancy provider, Research2Guidance, India is slated to become one of the biggest players in the global app market by 2016, overtaking leading smartphone app markets such as the US, and five Western European Union countries. 

The new wave

Manaswi, a PR professional in Delhi, spends the one hour she commutes to her office glued to her phone. The 25-year-old isn’t hooked to WhatsApp or Facebook. She browses for latest clothing, gadgets, phones and checks out the latest deals on Flipkart and Amazon. A for lunch, she considers her options on like Zomato and Foodpanda.

Many like her are opting to download apps of their favourite ecommerce ventures and use these slickly designed products rather than browser-based variants.

According to estimates, over 70 per cent of the traffic is driven by smartphones and mobile users, the e-commerce firms are not taking any chances but ensure that they should have both desktop as well as app models. 

“In recent past companies like Flipkart, Myntra etc partially rolled back their ‘mobile app only’ plans. No company can deliver extraordinary customer experience without having a mobile app in today’s world. However, ‘forcing’ users to stick to a channel might not work in favour of companies. It makes sense for the ecommerce players to have both desktop as well as mobile app models. 

According to rough estimates, the current rate of conversion through mobile is around 50 per cent, which is decent. Moreover, with the penetration of mobile wallet in the country increasing, it is estimated that in the near future, transactions would increase dramatically. So, every e-commerce player present on the desktop have mobile apps also,” said Amarjeet Singh, senior partner, KPMG, a consulting firm.

From ecom’s top shelf

Nilotpal Chakravarti, associate vice-president, The Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), says online travel in India, over the years has been the largest digital commerce segment in terms of revenue generation. Online retail is catching up fast and is expected to match travel in revenue by this year.

Cash-on-delivery (COD) is one of the key growth drivers for the growth of online retail and is estimated to account nearly 50 per cent online retail sales. Chakravarti says the total digital commerce market in India was valued at Rs 53,301 crore in December 2013 and grew 53 per cent through 2014 and reached Rs 81,525 crore by the December 2014. The industry was estimated to grow further and cross Rs 1 lakh crore.

Amazon, which is among the dominant online retail platforms along with Flipkart and Snapdeal, is betting big on India. “We continue to look at India as a key growth region and are committed to invest aggressively and transform the way India buys and sells”, an Amazon spokesperson told The Tribune.

Estimates are that the ecommerce industry has grown at a rate of 50 per cent on a yearly basis. A spokesperson for Snapdeal said this growth has been driven by changing demographics, increasing smartphone penetration and several other macroeconomic factors. The rapid growth has led to a significant rise in consumer expectations and therefore, evolution in offerings by e-commerce players.

Snapdeal is altering its business model to focus on growth. “At Snapdeal, we believe, the true value of ecommerce can be measured by how significantly entrenched it is in the lives of customers and the convenience it provides. We have recalibrated our vision from an outcome metric like gross merchandise value (GMV) alone to a more growth-focused proposition like building habit commerce and repeat purchase,” the company said.

Assocham-Forrester 

  • Online travel has seen growth across all subcategories including car rentals, airlines, hotels and travel review and info sites. 
  • Users seek info on travel options on a regular basis, with the Railways being the largest target. One out of every 5 online users in India visits the Indian Railways site.
  • Retail category penetration is up to 65 million unique visitors a month registering an annual growth of 55%. Apparel has been the fastest growing subcategory.
  • Roughly 60-65 per cent of the total ecommerce sales in India are being generated by mobile devices & tablets.

New marketplace 

Internet and Mobile Association of India says the number of mobile Internet users in India may reach 371 million by June this year. The number was 306 million in December 2015.

American Express-Nielsen survey

  • Online shopping overtakes social networking in India as Indians voted online shopping (98%) as the top reason to access internet; closely followed by social networking (96%).
  • Shopping, travel and utility bill payments comprise a major chunk of online spending. 
  • Average online monthly spend of Indians is Rs 9,400. In metros, this is Rs 10,900 while in Tier-1 cities it is Rs 8,000. Across cities it can touch an overall ticket size of Rs 16,000.

So, what will you buy?

Snapdeal claims to be India’s largest online marketplace. With 35 million-plus products across 800-plus diverse categories from over 125,000 regional, national, and international brands and retailers. Snapdeal says it currently has more than 3,00,000 sellers onboard — the highest among e-commerce marketplaces.

However…

  • A report by Kotak Institutional Equities says a tightening funding environment has prompted stricter evaluation of business models. 
  • Tight funding environment is leading to consolidation in several ecommerce verticals. Hyperlocal players seem to be worst-hit: Peppertap has shut its grocery delivery business and is now focusing only on logistics. Roadrunnr is reportedly merging with food-ordering app Tinyowl.

Yahoo-Mindshare 

  • It says 90% consumers use only mobile devices in their path to purchase for travel, music and movies. 
  • 31% of shoppers cite saving time or effort as their main reason for shopping online. Attractive discounts and promotions are another key driver. 

Top News

Relief for Delhi CM, High Court bins plea for his ouster

Relief for Delhi CM, High Court bins plea for his ouster

Special court extends Kejriwal’s ED custody till April 1