Mobile shopping set to drive e-commerce in India

The online retailers are taking the smartphones route to tap the market opportunity offered in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Most leading players expect 90 per cent of their online shopping to come through smartphones and tablets within the next few years.

India is the second largest mobile phone market with more than 930 million customers. According to IDC data, the domestic smartphone market grew 84 per cent in the second quarter of 2014 and is expected to grow rapidly.

With the huge market potential offered by smartphones, companies such as Snapdeal, Flipkart, Myntra, among others, have already launched mobile applications.

“The growth in internet usage in India, largely on mobile devices, is the key driver for e-commerce growth. Specifically for fashion, the non-availability of the latest brands in Tier-II and Tier-III cities has led to high interest in online shopping,” said Myntra Chief Revenue Officer Prasad Kompalli.

Over the next three years, online market place Snapdeal expects 90 per cent of its order to come from people who buy through their mobile devices.

“Currently, around 60 per cent of our orders come through our mobile platform. We are hoping to receive 75 per cent of our transactions through mobile within the next one year. The same is expected to touch 90 per cent over the next three years,” said Kunal Bahl, Co-founder and CEO of Snadeal.com.

Another reason for the increase in mobile commerce is the penetration of smartphone into the rural markets. Around 45per cent of the online users in India access internet only through their mobile phones. As per industry experts, out of all shopping queries in India, 30 per cent come from mobile phones, however, presently less than 5per cent of total digital commerce happens through mobile

According to a recent report from IT research and advisory firm Gartner, the eCommerce market is expected to grow 70 per cent and touch $6 billion in 2015.

“Mobile commerce will help organisation skip the desktop wave with increasing penetration of affordable smart devices with connectivity and a rapidly growing ecosystem to engage customers on mobile,” said Praveen Sengar, research director, Gartner.