Ecommerce changing India, one city at a time

One can’t deny contribution of the ecommerce industry to India’s economic growth in the past few years. It has opened many doors for people across the country, be it buyers, sellers or general workforce. Cities that were unreachable before to sell and buy from are easily accessible now. Hence, we see the economy of various Indian states is improving due to ecommerce.

4000 merchants from Chandigarh and around looking to sell online

Take the case of traders belonging to the northern states of India, namely Chandigarh, Panchkula, Mohali and Zirakpur that are all set to take their local business on the national and international platform through ecommerce. According to this ET report, 4000 traders associated with Chandigarh Beopar Mandal traders’ association have tied up with ecommerce companies to sell online. Revenue loss and potential of online retail led to this decision.

Naresh Garg, VP of Chandigarh Beopar Mandal shared the reasons behind this switch, “We had conducted a detailed survey of sale of our products in the city. The results were shocking. We found 26% sale was from e-commerce. On items like electronics and mobile phones, the revenue loss was as much as 25% to 30%. Since one-fourth of the sale in the case was going out, we decided to come into this new segment to survive as well as sell our products across the globe. As we have quality products, we want to make the city and neighbouring areas popular.”

The association is in talks with leaders Amazon, eBay, and Flipkart. The last leg of the negotiation is about reducing seller margins.

Garg revealed, “Currently, the online company draws a profit margin on different items from 5% to 12%. Our traders want that to be brought down to 2% to 5%. This issue will be settled within a week or 10 days. One of the three companies has almost made up its mind.”

Andhra Pradesh, the emerging ecommerce market

From North, let’s move down to South. Barring metropolitan cities, ecommerce penetration in Southern part of India has been low, but business is picking up now! Rising number of online orders from several cities of Andhra Pradesh are clear indicator that ecommerce has arrived in the state.

Bhaskara Rao Potluri, Executive Director Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation admitted, “The initial buzz in our state may have led to firms seeing market potential. E-commerce is on the rise globally. Of course, there is a market in AP. As of now, there isn’t any threat to normal retailers. The coming days are exciting and will give a clear picture.”

For instance, in Vijaywada the number of daily online orders has gone up from 2,000 in 2014 to 20,000 in 2015. Online marketplace leader, Snapdeal had earned huge revenues from South during this year’s Diwali sales.

Besides welcoming ecommerce biggies like BigBasket, Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon with open arms, Andhra Pradesh’s growing ecommerce market has presented an excellent opportunity to online startups too. Right from pest control services to directories, all kinds of online services have cropped up in the past few months.

This will obviously lead to new breed of entrepreneurs, more employment opportunities and favorable environment for SMEs in Andhra Pradesh. As we said, ecommerce is changing India for better, one city at a time.