Consumers’ ardent move toward e-commerce in India has reached a new height, crossing the $60 billion (U.S. dollar) mark in gross merchandise value so far in fiscal year 2023.
The fiscal year runs through June 30.
According to numbers compiled by Redseer Research and Analysis and reported by Business Today, e-tailer GMV was $49 billion in fiscal year 2022.
Inside the Growth Rate
As impressive as the jump from fiscal year 2022 to 2023 is, it represents a slowdown in the growth rate. From fiscal year 2021 to fiscal year 2022, the GMV went from $36 billion to $49 billion—a jump of 36%. The 2022-to-2023 change is just 22%, per Redseer’s data.
Nonetheless, it’s an attention-getting display of growth.
In a trend that was seen worldwide, the pandemic spurred more Indian consumers into e-commerce channels amid lockdowns and a profound dip in in-person shopping.
Mrigank Gutgutia, a partner at Redseer, wrote that e-commerce in India “has gradually slowed post-pandemic but continues to perform better than overall retail consumption.”
Assessing the Markets
India regularly checks in among the fastest-growing e-commerce markets in the world, along with Latin American countries such as Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico.
China, of course, remains the dominant e-commerce market, accounting for 46.3% of all retail e-commerce, according to a November 2022 report by Shopify. In that report, the United States, at No. 2, checked in with a market about a third of the size of China’s.
E-Commerce Trends
Daniel Keyes, the Senior Analyst for Merchant Services at Javelin Strategy & Research, noted that the factors affecting e-commerce growth have shifted since the onset of the pandemic and its most stringent effects.
“Merchants can’t expect to see the level of e-commerce sales or adoption growth they saw early on in the pandemic as the unique circumstances pushed consumers to shop online more than ever before,” Keyes said.
“But merchants can still find growth now by creating seamless online shopping experiences that are easy to use and tailored to a consumers’ preferences. And making sure digital platforms are integrated with in-store shopping experiences can help coax in-store shoppers into developing a digital relationship, potentially driving e-commerce sales in the process.”