Review of Shift from Commerce to E-commerce in India: Analytical Essay

Abstract

Integration of business deals with the technology has brought the revolution in the trading sector. Traditional aspects of doing businesses have been transformed into e-commercial sector. Todays, E-commerce has entirely revolutionized the conventional thought of business, supported by huge internet users & android mobile phones; Indian e-commerce has been witnessing remarkable growth and gradual advancement in the last few years. Considering India’s demographic variable & growing internet accessibility, the sector is expected to scale greater heights. Commercial sector is quickly transforming into e-commercial now. This paper tries to portray the present scenario and facilitators of E-Commerce and the phases of transformation from conventional commerce to technologically advanced E-commerce.

Keywords: Business, Technology, Mobile Phones, Internet, Commercial.

Introduction

India has emerged as one of the major players on the new international business prospect. Its relentless economic development since reforms in 1991 has become the focus of concentration for researchers in the field of international business and management. The year 1991 illustrated a new episode in the history of the internet world where e-commerce became a sizzling option amongst the online commercial users. It was difficult for the millennial to predict that online trading will become a trend in the world and India will contribute to a good proportion of this success. Commerce has altogether revolutionized the lives of people around the world and its growth in India is remarkable which is difficult to show any signs of decline in near future. Trading of goods and services with the help of electronic channels and internet is termed as E-commerce. E-business is a route to conducting traditional form of business in an innovative way with the help of the internet network and by using Electronic Data Interchange as the means. E-Commerce relates to the website of the vendor or retailer, who sells products or services directly to the customer from the gateway using a digital shopping cart and allows payment through the usage of plastic money or electronic fund transfer payments. E-commerce has not only provided platform for the customers to transact online but has provided the opportunity to the retailers and many manufacturers to showcase their products online without any intermediaries.

Objectives of study

1. To evaluate the present trends of e-commerce in India
2. To evaluate the growth factors responsible for e-commerce in India

Review of literature

1. Abhijit Mitra, (2013) in his article “E-Commerce in India-A review “an attempt is made to analyse the present status and facilitators of E-Commerce in India, In this study it has been found that, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of companies opting for E-Commerce. In his study he has focussed on barriers which the E-commerce companies are facing.
2. Madhukar Sarode, (2015) in his paper concluded that eCommerce has become the future of shopping for consumerism and the gap between manufacturer and consumer has been reduced due to e-commerce. There is vast scope for e-commerce in India but due to weak cyber law, people are facing challenges in India.
3. Rajendra Madhukar Sarode, (2015) E-commerce is altering the way of buying & selling of product & services in India. The growth of e-commerce has been extended in rural as well as urban area at reasonable cost, due to which more people are getting connected with e-commerce & the ratio of that is getting increasing day by day.
4. Rajasekar and Agarwal, (2016) in their study of impact on India's e-commerce revealed that success of E-commerce depends to a greater extent on effective IT systems for which it is necessary to strengthen technological developments. Many organizations, and communities in India are investing a lot to take advantage of the potential of e-commerce, there needs to be some provisions to overcome the challenges before e-commerce would become a practice for common people.
5. Mita Mehta, (2016) purpose of this study reveals consumer behaviour and their preference towards adopting mobile marketing as a revolution towards new shift in the rapidly developing e-Commerce segment. It has been analysed that convenience factor has become one of the major reasons for the consumers to go online.

Research methodology

The study is based on secondary data that has been collected from various articles, journals, books, websites etc, and literature review of researcher’s previously worked in this field. The research is used to study the evaluation, conceptual framework, present trends or scenario, growth facilitators and challenges faced by e-commerce. The study includes current data available to make the work more effective and the analysis of the same has been interpreted. The paper is mostly comprises of secondary base & proper references have been given wherever necessary.

Commerce to E-commerce

It all started with barter system and the progress continues. Previously transactions were done which involved goods in exchange of goods and then evolved the currency and the transactions were in cash denominations. Traditionally before revolution into the commercial sector, commerce meant trading of goods and services. Business during Gen X was like a physical commercial activity with involvement of many intermediaries to sell or exchange the goods and services. People had the psyche of cash transactions. Format of business was a risky venture due to lot of uncertainty. Now with the revolution in the commercial sector came up a new era of business known as E-Commerce, currencies took the new form of plastic money and electronic fund transfer. With the initiative of Indian government to provide ease to the customers, firstly E-commerce services were provided by IRCTC and the story began.

Emergence of E-commerce

E-Commerce

E-Commerce market is a digital commerce market in India. It is an innovation which has shifted the traditional way of doing businesses in a innovative way. E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services, or the transfer of funds or data, over an electronic system, primarily the Internet. These business deals are business-to-consumer, business-to-business, consumer-to-consumer or consumer-to-business. It has become an online platform for the retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and consumers to trade online easily and conveniently. E-commerce in India has got a remarkable growth because of the technological revolution and its adaptation into commercial sector. Growth of E-commerce in India has been backed by innumerable mobiles users and wide connectivity of internet. E-Commerce has occupied the major market share in India’s shoppers mind. ( Dr. Rajasekar, 2016)

Facilitators of E-Commerce in India

Since its evolution there have been number of facilitators or divers which has been contributing continuously in the growth of E-Commerce market. A large market size, young and aspirational consumer base, ever increasing digital revolution, and adoption of new age technology are some of the factors adding to this line-up. Below are the major contributors for the change, (Source. Kya Zoonga).

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1. Increasing income levels

• Increasing purchasing power of people
• Increasing disposable income of the urban youth

2. Changes in the socio-economic environment

• Rising middle-class incomes
• Changing demographics (approx 50 % of the population is below 25 years of age)
• Reach to global brands

3. Change in the technological landscape

• Rise in internet usage and 4G penetration
• Increasing smart phone users with wide availability of internet on mobile phones
• Delivering high quality user experience

4. Changing Patterns of Consumer Behaviour

• Less time to spend in travelling to places and shopping
• Increase in expenditure for luxury items
• Increased population of Brand Conscious consumers

5. Changing mindset and outlook of Indian customers

• Indians becoming more aware and embracing the idea of online shopping

Growing share of E-Commerce market has witnessed the increased share of digital buyers through online transactions, below graph shows the increasing trend of Digital buyers from the year 2014 to the forecast till the year 2020(in millions) and this increase has led to the development of major e-commerce market.

E-commerce trends

E-commerce has approached a long way since its foundation and is only getting bestest day by day. As technology continues to cultivate swiftly, e-commerce retailers are adopting innovative techniques to ease sellers and buyers to buy and sell online more effectively, all credit to ever dropping charges of internet surfing – both for web and mobile interfaces – which is complimenting to the soaring population of internet users. It has been the major source of driving the trend for ecommerce. The growth of social platforms through internet and huge adoption of smart phones is acting as a vehicle to accelerate this drive further, shaping the e-commerce trends for the Indian market. According to a report by India brand equity foundation, Dec 2018,E-Commerce market has been propelled by increasing smart phone penetration, the launch of 4G networks and increasing consumer affluence, the Indian e-commerce market is expected to grow to US$ 200 billion by 2026

• Flipkart, after its acquisition by Wal-Mart for US$ 16 billion, is expected to start more offline retail stores in India to encourage private brands in segments such as fashion and electronics. In September 2018, Flipkart acquired Israel based analytics start-up Upstream Commerce that will facilitate the firm in pricing and positioning its products in an efficient way.
• Paytm has launched its bank - Paytm Payment Bank, Paytm bank is India's first bank with zero charges on online transactions, no minimum balance requirement and free virtual debit card.

The graph presents the revenue generated by e-commerce market in India in 2017, and provides a forecast until 2023. E-commerce revenue in India is expected to grow to 51.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2023.Statista’s Digital Market Outlook offers forecasts, detailed market insights and essential performance indicators related to the revenue contributed by E-commerce retail market in India, this increasing trend in revenue shows the remarkable growth the E-commerce retail sector contributes towards the success of Indian retail market intotal.

As per Statista’s Digital Market Outlook it reports the increase in annual E-commerce sales from the year 2017 to the forecasts of sales in the year 2022 which shows the clear picture that the growth in sales has been continuous, means the e-commerce market will always be witnessing increasing sales because of the growing technology and higher adoption rate of online shopping behaviour of the customers, there will always be boon in this market.

Benefits of E-Commerce

Indian E-Commerce portals provide goods and services in a variety of categories like apparel and accessories for men and women, health and beauty products, books and magazines, etc. Retailers and traders due to e-commerce have got the leverage of common platform for doing business. This revolution has provided the consumers with large variety and options of products and services to browse and search without any inconvenience. Individuals are at a gain to find branded merchandise at low cost. IT revolution has changed the retail industry by just a click to buy or sell online through internet and different payment gateways.

Challenges

Though India has been witnessing growth but it’s still faces some challenges due to India being still a developing country and its rural areas still being underdeveloped .Multiple issues of trust in e-commerce technology and lack of widely accepted standards, lack of payment gateways, privacy of personal and business data connected over the Internet, no assurance for security and non confidentiality of data and non maintenance of IT Infrastructure. Lack of technical skills of consumers to operate the smart phones has also become a challenge for E-commerce market.

Conclusion

A developing country shall attempt to be modernized and advanced if it introduces e-commerce effectively and efficiently, this would increase its productivity and make it competitively more challenging. Digital revolution has uplifted ecommerce worldwide. With the expansion of internet connectivity through mobile devices like Smartphone and tablets, millions of consumers are making decisions online and in this way enterprises can build the brand digitally and enhance productivity but government support and initiatives must ensure the cost effective methods/solutions. E-commerce has not only progressed in retail sector but also has resulted in the growth and advancement of the economy.

References

1. Dr. Rajasekar, S. A Study on Impact of E-Commerce on India’s Commerce, International Journal Of Development Research, ISSN: 2230-9926, 2016
2. Mita Mehta, Paradigm Shift in Mobile Marketing and E-Commerce: The Indian Perspective, International Journal of Management and Applied Science, Issn: 2394-7926 Volume-2, Issue-6, Jun.-2016
3. Abhijit Mitra “E-Commerce in India-A Review”, International Journal Of Marketing, Financial Services And Management Research, 2013.
4. Rajasekar and Agarwal (2016) “A Study of Impact of India-Commerce on India’s Commerce” Indian Journal of Development and Research, Vol. 6, Issue 03, , ISSN -7253-7256, March, 2016
5. Rajendra Madhukar Sarode, Future of E-Commerce in India Challenges & Opportunities, International Journal of Applied Research 2015, ISSN: 2394-7500
6. Madhukar Sarode, Rajendra, Future of E-Commerce in India Challenges and Opportunities, International Journal of Applied Research, Vol. I (12), 646-650. 2015
7. https://www.ibef.org/IndiaNowMagazine_eVersions/IndiaNow_Vol4_Issue5/files/assets/downloads/page0064.pdf
8. Sayani Coomar, 2mita Mehta, 3arti Chandani, Paradigm Shift In Mobile Marketing And E-Commerce:The Indian Perspective International Journal Of Management And Applied Science, ISSN: 2394-7926,2016.