Global e-commerce sales made via mobile devices are expected to cross $638 billion by 2018, according to the joint study brought out by Assocham and Deloitte on Monday.
Currently, the availability of e-commerce applications on various mobility devices is helping to drive sales and revenue. E-tailers such as Flipkart, Amazon and Jabong now get 50 per cent of their revenue from consumers shopping on their mobile phones. Predictive analytics is helping the e-tailers to provide better solutions in real-time enabling compelling user experience even on mobile screens, a release said quoting D. S. Rawat, Secretary General, Assocham.
“However, while shoppers want real-time, relevant, and personalised information and offers, retailers will need to surround this service with very strong privacy and security. Trust, transparency, and protecting customer information will be critical in retaining loyalty as mobile retailing becomes the norm,” noted the joint study.
Online commerce companies should enable all features from search-to-purchase on mobile apps such as facilitating product research, price comparison, view ratings and reviews, and payment, the study said.
The launch of wearables such as Google Glass and Apple Watch opened new opportunities for reaching out to customers, it said. E-tailers would keep an eye on developments in this arena, although it might only be an urban phenomenon at the moment, the study noted.
“The e-marketplaces are growing significantly with the increase in the Internet penetration and smartphone usage. Internet-enabled mobiles are making shopping a unique experience for buyers. e-marketplaces provide a technology platform for sellers to participate and a trusted environment to scale up rapidly, increase profit and is highly valued by the customers. The non-inventory-led B2C model also allows the e-commerce players to provide attractive discounts and offers which are difficult for inventory-led brick-and-mortar shops as well as for pure e-Tailers,” the study said.
According to joint study, ‘Global Powers of Retailing 2015,’ online marketplaces rather than pure inventory-led companies tend to serve as the primary e-commerce model in Asia. “The high costs of holding inventory, poor logistics and supply chain challenges in India are shifting the inventory-led companies and new entrants to adopt marketplace model. Also, e-marketplaces work well in India due to high fragmentation on supply side,” it pointed out.
The rise of online sales in the developing markets was encouraging retailers to go online for global expansion, it said. The e-retailers were becoming exclusive partners for different brands, it added.
The study found cash-on-delivery (CoD) to be the most preferred mode of payment in India with 45 per cent of the shoppers using it while 21 per cent shoppers opting for debit cards and another 16 per cent going for credit cards.
“CoD mode has many issues ranging from high direct and indirect costs, security, or time taken to reverse logistics arising from CoD defaults. More people have banking access due to the financial inclusion project — Jan Dhan Yojna — of the government. Digital companies such as Paytm, Videocon D2H, and telecom operators such as Airtel, Idea are entering the banking arena with payment bank licence. Emerging cashless payment solutions will boost the e-commerce sector,” it added.
POINTERS:
1. Online commerce companies should enable all features from search-to-purchase on mobile apps
2. The launch of wearables, such as Google Glass and Apple Watch, opens new opportunities for reaching out to customers.
3. The e-marketplaces are growing significantly with the increase in the Internet penetration and smartphone usage.
4. The rise of online sales in the developing markets is encouraging retailers to go online for global expansion.
