India could rank second in the global order of e-commerce market by 2034

India is set to become the second largest e-commerce market by 2034 globally from its current ninth rank led by increased internet penetration, said Akshay Gulati, Co-founder, Shiprocket – a logistics software platform. “By 2030, 1.3 billion Indians will have access to the Internet and smart phones with 500 million online shoppers,” Gulati said at an interactive session on Day 1 of the two-day Phygital Retail Convention.

With over 800 brands in the D2C (Direct To Consumer) segment, Indian market size is seen at $60 billion by 2027 and online adoption has accelerated in the past two years from a customer perspective, he said.

“There are no borders today for information flow. Trends don’t take 6-12 months to materialize, they happen overnight,” Gulati said, adding that e-commerce penetration in India would double to 15 per cent in FY27 from 8 per cent in FY22.

The rising domestic e-commerce market will also open doors for Indian manufacturers to tap the global market as D2C gains momentum.

Already, India’s post-pandemic exports are at a record high with total merchandise exports at $105 billion during the third quarter of 2021-22 (Apr-Mar), Gulati pointed out.

The changing paradigm in consumption and spending through digital mode has re-positioned the brick and mortar mall infrastructure into experience centers, according to experts at the convention.

Private equity, which had so far invested 150 million square feet in offices, had invested 15 million square feet in retail assets and this gap should narrow, said Rajneesh Mahajan, Chief Executive Officer, InOrbit Malls.

The disruption in retail is being closely watched by the modern retailers from the brick and mortar segment and are waiting for the right signals for the next available opportunity to catapult their business to the next level, said Pramod Arora, Chief Growth & Strategy Officer, PVR Cinemas.

Earlier, in the day, addressing the inaugural session, Arvind Singhal, Chairman, Technopak – a management consulting firm, expected India’s merchandise retail to undergo a paradigm shift in the next decade with the introduction of 5G network and rising per capita income.

Speaking at the inaugural session, Singhal said, “Open Network for Digital Commerce will be the biggest transformation in Indian retail as the 5G network penetrates and facilitates product discovery much faster.”

Consumption and spending patterns will be more digital and without doubt it will not be limited to physical retail stores, he said. Capturing the retail story of India in the past three decades, Singhal said, “If India’s per capita consumption crosses the $5,000 hurdle over the next decade from $2,000 as of now, then discretionary spending will rise as the country’s merchandise retail will rise to $1.8 trillion from the $800 billion now.”

As an economy, India will fundamentally be different 10 years from now. From being a $300 billion economy in 1992 to around $3 trillion economy in 2022, the Indian economy would be around 1.5 times of what we are today to around $7.5 trillion, assuming there is no adverse impact in USD-rupee parity, Singhal said.

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