Today e-commerce startups are building up a billion dollar industry in India. Buyers get ample of choices in products shopping, get discounts, easy returns and things, which retail industry fails to provide.

India is amongst the fastest growing retail market in the world. With a population of 1.2 billion, enormous consumer base floats millions of revenue to the industry, contributing 22% to the country’s GDP. Indian Retail market is among the top 5 markets in the world. The industry was untouched by the development of technology, but the introduction of e-commerce startups started shifting consumer base from offline to online market. Many popular e-commerce startups are funded heavily to expand their operations around the country. We have tried to cover a few points that explain the impact of e-commerce on retail.

One of the major factors that contribute to the boom of e-commerce is advertising. E-commerce platforms spend heavily on advertising and marketing that small retail chains cannot afford. Retail stores are limited to a particular cluster of people. On the contrary, e-commerce driven by technology has established a structure that eases flow of products and money. Payment gateways, logistic channels, easy returns, etc. are the core aspects contributing in the growth of online stores. To entice buyers at regular interval popular e-commerce platforms flood the stores with discounts and easy returns.

Retailers in the metropolitan cities are the first ones to face the impact. Local shops that expects revenue in festivals are facing issues to gather crowds. E-commerce stores, on the other hand use all tactics to capture the biggest margin of customer base. Most important thing that matters to a buyer is value for money product, good discounts and easy replacement. E-commerce is offering all such benefits via an online portal. Retail stores instead still rely on a small margin where it is hard for them to use advertisement or introduce a replacement policy.

Retail stores are still performing well in segregated market. E-commerce are mostly utilized in the cities where the population has the highest ratio of tech savvy’s.  The retail industry will face higher impacts in future due to the rising popularity of e-commerce stores.  Retail still remains an important pillar of the Indian Economy.

Takeaways:

• E-commerce’s impact on Retail is visible. Consumers in cities are trusting e-commerce rather than retail.
• Huge investment in advertising, lucrative discounts and easy replacement contribute to the success of e-commerce in cities.