Lessons from Indian e-commerce market

BY MEHWISH ASLAM

Although Pakistan and India have different infrastructure and regulations, yet the overview of Indian e-commerce sector can serve as a case study when applied to Pakistan.

The Indian Times has reported that the digital payment market in India accounted for almost Rs2,162 trillion during 2019-20. The current mobile payment users in India are almost 160 million, which will increase five times by the year 2025 to reach the 800 million target.

When talking about statistics in Pakistan, the internet banking users are around 3,983,235 while the mobile phone banking users are around 8,451,997.

There is still considerable amount of potential as both markets are in the developing stage.

Even a small number of phone banking users in Pakistan were able to bring about a 23 per cent increase in volume and 25 per cent increase in value since the number of e-banking transactions increased.

When we talk about many factors that fuel the retail market growth in India, we reflect on the internet penetration in the country as it increased and led to more international retailers starting operations in India. The share of the organised retail market is expected to increase from 12 per cent (2017) to 25 per cent (2021). Flagship initiatives and initiatives like Start-up India and Digital India were made to boost the e-commerce market and make digital payment a way of life in India.

Pakistan’s statistics are quite promising, however, there is still much we can learn from the Indian market to boost our growth in e-commerce.  Pakistan needs to welcome all businesses, big or small, reduce paperwork and COD transactions to promote digital payments, connect the offline with the online (O2O), and build customer services and warehousing solutions to get benefits from the rise of social commerce and increase in technology hubs, which promote entrepreneurship.

Most consumers are now open to online payments as they trust online shops and believe that they will get what they order. This is a perfect time for a dependable e-commerce business.