The ability to digitise themselves served as a key to survival for start-ups and MSMEs, with about 64% of them witnessing increase in sales over last year amid the pandemic, a survey by LocalCircles revealed.
More than 6,200 start-ups and MSMEs across 172 districts were surveyed.
While 28% of start-ups and MSMEs said their total digital sales as percentage of total sales increased by 100-500%, 23% said sales rose by 50-100%, and 13% reported a 0-50% rise. About 18% said their total sales remained the same as that of the previous year, and the remaining 18% said their sales via digital channels as percentage of total sales had decreased.
Further, about 60% of small businesses said such channels helped them find new customers for products/services as well as increase transactions with existing customers during the pandemic.
“Many MSMEs and start-ups, in the last 12 months, have upgraded their technology by enabling a website for consumer transactions, listing products/ services on marketplaces and aggregators and scaling their back-end systems,” LocalCircles said.
Asked about their area of concern in the proposed amendments to the Consumer Protection (e-commerce) Rules, 2020, 12% respondents responded with ‘updating product information like country of origin, MRP, best before date or time, etc., on a regular basis’, and 7% replied ‘restrictions on sales events’. About 12% of small businesses said they did not have any area of concerns, while another 12% did not have an opinion.
“On an aggregate basis, appointing a resident grievance officer, restrictions on sales events and updating product information are among top concerns of small businesses with the Consumer Protection (e-commerce) Rules, 2020,” LocalCircles said.
On whether the government should consider regulating sales events via large e-commerce marketplaces, e-commerce inventory aggregators or their own website or app, only 35% replied in the affirmative, while the majority 58% were against it.
