Global e-commerce portals bet big on India

With e-commerce retail in India gaining momentum, along with

local e-tailers, global giants are jumping in to take avail the opportunity. According to a study by Forrester, India's e-commerce industry can grow at about 57 percent annually through 2015, which is the fastest pace in the Asia-Pacific region. Its 143.2 million internet users constitute one of the largest online populations. Fashion, apparel and lifestyle products as a category is one of the most important categories doing brisk business online.

So e-tail majors like Ebay, Amazon, Groupon and others are fast expanding their reach and offerings in the country. While Groupon entered the Indian market by acquiring SoSasta back in 2011, it was gradually able to spread its network from 11 cities to 78 major Indian cities in two years. Its attractive campaigning strategy is winning many hearts across the nation. For instance, it recently launched a promotional campaign wherein it sold about 3 tonnes of onions every day, for a week at just Rs 9 per kg while the market price was soaring at about 60-70 rupees per kg. The onions were sold within minutes making it famous nationwide.

Amazon on the other hand launched Junglee.com in 2012 that allows consumers to compare the prices of products sold by several other online retailers. And on the back end, Amazon is using this platform to research and gather user trends, keywords, and price trends. Making use of this exhaustive original database, the global retailer launched its marketplace in India earlier this year offering over 140,000 products and over 1.9 million ebooks within a few months. The retailer allows merchants and traders to list their products on Amazon.in. And it has also setup its own warehouses across India to function as a merchant -- making its marketplace more competitive.