India sees fastest growth in e-com retail in Asia

Online sales is booming in the Asia-Pacific region, especially India. According to a study by marketing research firm eMarketer, India’s ecom business will see a fast forward growth in the coming years.

This year, for the first time, the Asia Pacific region’s global retail spending will make up 52.5 percent of the worldwide spending, the first time it holds a majority in the world market. China makes up most of this spending.

Online retail now accounts for 0.8 percent of all retail sales in India, compared with a global average of 6.3 percent, and this would grow to 4.8 percent by 2019, when it is projected to be 12.8 percent globally.

India has seen the fastest growth in the retail e-commerce among the Asia-Pacific countries, growing 133.8 per cent in 2014 and 129.5 percent in 2015. This growth is expected to stabilise to 23.9 percent in 2019, compared with an Asia-Pacific projected average growth of 23.5 percent.

Pure-play e-commerce companies such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon will see more competition, with brick-and-mortar entities such as the Tata group and the Aditya Birla Group announcing plans to enter India’s growing e-commerce market.

Even specialised e-commerce companies like lingerie retailer Zivame and women’s fashion portal Limeroad have raised considerable amounts of money to capitalise on the opportunity.