E-commerce is rapidly becoming the favorite, default online shopping option amongst consumers living in India. 86% of Indian shoppers adopted online shopping over e-commerce platforms using online shopping apps during the pandemic. As per a recent report by Sensor Tower & MAAS, in July 2021, India’s app stores saw more than 80M online shopping app installs while reaching 113M downloads in October this year, just in India.No doubt, Indians are known for binge shopping and addiction for mobile apps have only triggered this habit of online shopping over varied app-based e-commerce retail stores. We have explored further about apps driving their online shopping behavior, and narrowing down to the best online shopping apps in India as of today! Based on their trending position, we have sorted them as below:

1. Nykaa – Beauty Shopping App

Nykaa App for beauty shopping, make-up, and cosmetics online shopping happens to be one of the best online shopping apps in India. This online shopping app for beauty products is India’s largest online shopping beauty store. Browse and buy cosmetics, beauty products, health products & more from top brands.

APP Highlights:

• Online shopping categories – Makeup, skin, hair, fragrance, natural, personal care
• Brands– Over 2400 brands available, such as Maybelline, AMC, Lakme, Loreal, biotique, charlotte, tilbury, NYKAA
• Shipping – Free if purchasing over Rs.499
• Secure Payment Methods – UPI,GooglePay,Debit/Credit card,Net banking,mobile wallet,COD,Gift card
• Return Policy – 15 days
• Online Ratings– 4.6
• Store Rank– 28

2. Shopsy Shopping App – Flipkart

One of the trendiest apps and the best ones, Shopsy Shopping App originates from Flipkart. Online shopping under the categories of fashion, mobiles, beauty, accessories, footwear, home at the best price range. Earning money on placing each order with Shopsy is possible now. Shopsy Shopping app offers the latest and trendiest fashion items, clothing from top brands, and all categories too from big brands assuring quality purchasing. Transparent return/refund policy.

APP Highlights:

• Online shopping categories – Fashion, home, lifestyle, footwear, accessories, beauty
• Product Listings –  Over 15 Crores
• Exclusive offer – Competitive wholesale prices
• Secure Payment Methods – COD (Cash on Delivery Service), debit/credit card, net banking,  UPI enabled PhonePe, etc.
• Trusted Suppliers –  1 Lakh+ trusted Flipkart supplier base
• Faster Delivery – Within 7 working days
• Online Ratings– 4.2
• Store Rank– 5

3. AJIO Online Shopping App

AJIO Online shopping app is published by Reliance Retail Ltd. and is one of the best online shopping apps in India. AJIO app is called an online aisle of style due to its outstanding offers and range of products available. The app takes care of all needs for men/women, and their astounding range of accessories, mobile phones, smartwatches, the latest fashion, and electronics & gadgets from top brands.

APP Highlights:

• Online shopping categories – style collections menswear/womenswear/kidswear, accessories,mobile gadgets
• Brands– Over 2500  brands, international and in-house label
• Exclusive Offer-  Payday weekend special sale
• Secure Payment Methods – Easy checkouts, online payment
• Return Policy – 30 days
• Online Ratings– 4.3
• Store Rank– 3

4. Meesho Online Shopping App

Meesho: Online Shopping App is one of the best online shopping apps in India, a favorite one-stop online Shop for consumers and shoppers. Shoppers can now shop for themselves as well as earn money online, both the benefits via the same Meesho App!  Lowest wholesale prices available that allow for online shopping at any budget. Reselling of items to friends, family is possible while starting own business with zero investment.

APP Highlights:

• Online shopping categories  – Women’s / men’s fashion,  kid’s fashion, accessories, home & kitchen appliances, beauty & health essentials, etc.
• Product Listings – Over 50 Lakhs products from 650+ categories
• Reselling and earning money option – 3-step via browse, share, earn
• Exclusive Offer – 30% discount on first order
• Shipping – Free delivery with no minimum order value
• Return Policy – 7 days
• Secure Payment Methods – COD (Cash on Delivery Service), online payment, debit/credit card, net banking, etc.
• Online Ratings– 4.4
• Store Rank– 1

5. Myntra Online Shopping App

Myntra is the top trending mobile app today and is one of the best online shopping apps in India. A very convenient, very consumer-friendly app that you can download and install anytime free. After downloading you can choose from wide categories of clothing for men, women, kids. You have plenty of other categories apart from the clothing one. From clothes & shoes to hair care & home products, Myntra is your one-stop lifestyle shop. Choose from the most popular clothing fashion brands like Vero Moda, Nike, H&M, MANGO, HRX, Biba, Roadster, & many more.

APP Highlights:

• Online shopping categories –  Over 7 lakhs products that include clothing for men, women, kids, shoes, jewelry, home products, accessories, cosmetics, gadgets, sportswear
• Brands– Over 3500 brands available, Puma, Adidas, Nike, Fastrack, Reebok, Fossil, Maybelline, Lakme, Kama Ayurveda, Gini & Jony, Allen Solly    Forever 21, MANGO, Biba, etc.
• Exclusive Offer – Express order delivery
• Shipping – Free shipping on first order
• Secure Payment Methods – UPI or COD (cash on delivery), EMI options
• Return Policy – 30 days
• Online Ratings– 4.3
• Store Rank– 8

Endless APP Game

Every day you come up with something new in the shopping zone. As a consumer, you love to explore products, accessories that meet your growing needs daily. As an online retailer, you need to be competent enough to match this growing trend of online shopping behavior amongst consumers in India. Updating yourself with time and finding a place in Google play store or Appstore is the perfect solution to remain competitive and business-oriented in the mobile world.

Don’t fall behind your competitors! Connect with us and find out which online shopping app would be ideal for your e-commerce retail business fetching maximum returns.

What is the future of the Retail Industry?

What does the current market analysis show up?

How will the retail landscape look like adopting digital in the mainstream?

Is digital technology going to have an upper hand in the overall retail transformation that we will get to see?

Unlimited questions but we have prepared an articulate answer for you.

Today I am going to share with you some striking statistics that will enlighten you with the global market share of the retail industry in the coming years. AI-ML, IoT-powered retailing like social commerce, voice commerce, foot traffic monitoring all are going to shape the future of the retail industry.

 Know more about which trends are driving the retail industry and the challenges that most of the companies are going through.

Consumer expectations.Customer experience. Consumer behavior. Does your retail business relate to these three terms? Do you know they are the major drivers behind the success of your business? So, to add real value to your business you must solve your customers’ problems first, listen to their growing shift in expectations and changing behavior. You got to mold your offerings, products & services as per their changing shifts. So, what will be the top transformative consumer trends in 2022?

Trend #1  Digital Comes First

Your retail business has already adopted digital routes to connect with your customers, right? But, is it sufficient or do you need to expand your horizon? So far your digitization journey has incorporated only these channels – your websites, your social media channels, email offers, and maybe more, however, you have added them as an add-on and not the primary channel for your business. Today, the consumer prefers retail experience exclusively on digital channels. B2B or B2C, customers are opting for their business routes via a digital channel only. For customers, digital comes first before the rest! Your business must focus on building an improved version of digital-first interactions with prospective or existing customers. Three ways your retail business can do this-

• Switch over to web & mobile apps
• Focus on digital-only products/services
• Set up a smooth omnichannel environment that will enable customers to have a seamless movement between channels for a cohesive customer experience.

Trend #2  Personalization & Micro-Moments

Your customers want personalized offers that exclusively cater to them. They want to feel special and not a part of your mass marketing goals. You must admit the fact in today’s age of hyper-individualization,  your consumers want to buy your product if it is uniquely customized to their requirements. They expect you to understand their unique needs and respond accordingly. This will lead your customers to build a meaningful rapport with your brand, your business. Moreover, they want all these very fast and immediately. They have plenty of choices as everyone is targeting them, not just you. So, focus on their unique needs and give them quickly before anyone does that! If you search in Google, the result will appear as ‘Micro-Moments’ for this kind of consumer experience. In a flash of seconds, you need to deliver to your consumer!!

Trend #3 AI-Powered Product Cognification

SMART is the ongoing trend and the cognification of products and services is increasingly making inroads to consumers’ lives every day.AI (Artificial Intelligence), IoT(Internet of Things)  are inevitably making products smarter and digitally powered thereby multiplying their capabilities manifold. For example, how consumers are buying AI-IoT-sensored refrigerators, cars, and other products that are technically SMART to use. Similarly, for your business clients and customers, even machines in factories are leveraging the huge potential of digital capabilities, increasing the efficiency and productivity in the ecosystem. Thus, products are becoming more and more intelligent while services are equipped with AI capabilities and other digital technologies.

Trend #4 D2C without Intermediary

Consumer trend is going to take a round-about turn in 2022 towards direct dealings and purchases with no brokers and middlemen or traditional intermediaries involved. The D2C(Direct-to-Consumer)trend is going to bypass intermediaries in the retail supply chain which means, wholesalers, suppliers, distributors, retailers, advertisers, all are connecting directly with their end-consumers/customers. As a retailer or business person in retail, you need to sync with this consumer trend and find some direct digital routes to your customers using varied online channels.

Trend #5 From B2C to C2C

How about current businesses like Uber, Etsy, Facebook, and many others conducting businesses online? The same pattern is going to occur in 2022 onward for the retail sector as well. Just for your knowledge, C2C (customer-to-customer) business means customers directly connect with other customers for the business. This is increasingly picking momentum and there have been instances when a b2c has transformed to c2c and succeeded in their journey. So, if you are not a platform, fully-fledged business, you can think of this c2c model and get started!

Trend #6  Subscription-based Services

An entirely significant consumer trend for 2022, the subscription-based products & services is the trend greatly driven by the rapid cognification factor. As a business, you can now delight your target customers with thoughtful subscription-based products and items when they need them. Your customers would just love to sign up if you personalize your offerings to their requirements and specific expectations. The bottom line is, your business can generate predictable revenues as long as you provide your customers with value-based products and services.

Trend # 7 AR/VR/XR

Immersive Experience is the keyword. XR (Extended Reality), AR (Augmented Reality), VR(Virtual Reality)digital tools and technologies are increasingly becoming popular amongst consumers and customers because they can get real-life experience out of them. Your customers get instantly impressed with these immersive& engaging tools/ technologies.

Bottomline

Today, consumers are highly prioritizing experiences over materialistic achievements. It means, they look for value-added services and products that are personalized to their specific tastes and needs.Consumers/customers are not ready to compromise on this ground and just cannot accept anything on their plates. As a brand, you need to connect with your target audience instantly else they will move to the next brands in a flash of seconds. So, get ready for the year 2022 and align your retail business according to the consumer trends predicted here!

Interested to know more about the consumer trends that can benefit your retail business? Contact us.

Data is the most important asset of the retail industry. Data is useless if it does not help companies to make smarter decisions for business growth. As consumer behavior is evolving with time, it depends on how data are helping retail companies to get relevant business insights, improving customer experience leading to enhanced business outcomes. Predictive Analytics is the AI /ML digital tool that works on data to derive valuable insights and predictions, forecasting sales thereby helping retailers to plan ‘What Next’ moves. How Predictive Analytics can boost the retail industry? How is it helping retailers to generate sales and have a competitive edge in the market? We will discuss all these points in this blog today.

1. Product Demand Forecast

As a retailer, you want your business to expand and products to connect with your target audience. If you know what does your target audience demand and their preferences, your products will never be out of stock or understock, right? To keep your business running smoothly, predictive analytics helps to forecast the demand for exact products your target audience wants. The technology helps to ensure that you have enough items stocked to sell and can meet demands adequately and can predict your profitable months as well as sales deficit. It means predictive analytics helps retailers to assess demand and sales performances. Product performance can be gauged by indicators such as sales margins, the number of units sold besides other metrics. It helps to improve consumer engagement and satisfaction.

2. Pricing Forecast

Pricing forecasts is a major functionality of predictive analytics that uses real-time capabilities of machine learning, and data science technology, to bring out adequate answers to questions that as a retailer you’d like to know in advance. Few sample questions that predictive analytics can forecast regarding pricing elements are:

• For maximizing sales what’s the right price point?
• What should be the frequency for running price-based promotional activities?
• What should be the optimal attainable price of a customer?
• How the competitive pricing will impact sales?

Apart from the above factors, weather forecasting, real-time sales data also help to alter as well as induce the most perfect pricing part (best pricing ).

 3. Managing Inventory

As we have mentioned earlier, too, how predictive analytics helps in estimating product demand and what your target audience wants, it also helps towards managing your inventory properly and up to the mark. A poorly maintained inventory leads to a loss in sales. As a retailer, you will never like to hold on to those products that are not yielding sales. Moreover, you will always want to replenish stocks that your consumers want to buy. Predictive analytics helps to predict demand for products that help you to manage your inventory.

4.  Marketing Campaigns

As a retail business, you need to prioritize marketing campaigns from time to time.  Your business needs a powerful marketing plan that helps to boost your business potentials driving the best ROI. An inefficient marketing campaign management leads to a poor ROI because you cannot estimate the right budget and varied inaccurate calculations done on your part.AI-ML digital capabilities of predictive analytics help you to gain actionable marketing insights, and suggest you adopt individual campaigning for a specific target audience and be more budget efficient leading to maximum conversion of leads.

5.  In-Store Optimization

Predictive analytics helps in online monitoring of shopping activities, as well as in-store data analysis. Varied digital tools & technologies, IoT sensors, and surveillance cameras that are installed in retail stores, on product shelves, help to monitor the shopping activities of varied consumers. The technology helps you in the following ways:

• You can identify your shoppers’ favorite routes throughout the retail floor
• You can identify and distinguish popular, most searched products on varied shelves
• You can count the total number  of visitors  in your shopping zone at different times per day
• You can adequately calculate the average visit time of customers
• You can genuinely monitor queues

Predictive analytics helps you to gather these valuable insights. Using these insights, you can configure store layouts, plan the schedules of your staff, can distinguish the ideal opening hours of your retail stores, reduce customers’ waiting time in queues, and increase the high level of security.

6.  Shopping Cart

 If you own an e-commerce retail store, you can leverage the massive capabilities of AI-ML-powered predictive analytics to optimize your online store, product categories as per existing online shopping carts of consumers. For instance, your customers while browsing your online shopping stores may come across products they like so much. They save them, add them to their shopping carts. When they don’t buy them,  predictive analytics tracks them and lets you know why they didn’t buy and how you should respond to this kind of situation in the future.

7. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing, online advertising are important segments of retail marketing. As a retailer, you’d think social media marketing involves greater expenditure than offline advertising. But using predictive analytics, you can manage these upfront costs and invest in social channels where you gain the maximum outreach and visibility. Predictive analytics can help you maintain a strong social media presence. You don’t have to stress regarding unreasonable expenses because the digital tool helps you to invest smartly on those social channels where you get the maximum ROI and prospect of acquiring new customers.

Conclusion

Predictive Analytics can help to predict the future of your retail business. Whether you are an online retailer sharing an online marketplace with bigwigs or small start-ups in the offline retail space, predictive analytics helps you to extract valuable actionable insights for your business outcomes in the right direction. The aforementioned AI-ML-powered digital capabilities of predictive analytics are just a few significant use cases in the retail industry. There are many more benefits yet to unfold. Stay tuned to this space and we will have further elaboration on this topic with detailed analysis.

Are you a retailer in the e-commerce industry or a physical retail store and changing consumer behavior bothering you? Want to know how predictive analytics can help you solve this challenge and grow your retail business?? Reach us.

If you are a retail entrepreneur, you must be knowing very well the significance of trends in your sector, and how it shapes the business eco-space. New trends come with every new year that hugely impact retail businesses across the globe. In 2020 as well as 2021, the trends saw a massive shift in consumer behavior, their fondness for online shopping, immense growth in e-commerce, social commerce, AR shopping experiences, influencer marketing, etc. The pandemic has only accelerated some trends like a surge in grocery platforms, retail media outlets overall enhancing online shoppers worldwide. Continuing the trend of writing about the trends, let’s discuss top innovative retail industry trends that will dominate in 2022 and beyond as well!

Important Stats

• By 2040, over 95% of total purchases are expected to be done on e-commerce platforms (NASDAQ)
• There exist over 2 B digital shoppers/buyers around the world (Statista)
• In 2023,  22% of the total retail sales globally are expected to be carried online mode  (Statista)
• Almost 51% of online shoppers do purchases using their smartphones (Finances Online)
• By 2025, half of B2B revenue is expected to be generated by e-commerce (Episerver)

Stats Main Source –  Influencer Marketing Hub

1. Online Stores in Offline Spaces

The trend has picked momentum over the past few years. Digital brands sell their products online while delivering tangibility to the whole customer experience. This means, online buyers can choose products online and can go to pick them in the brand’s physical retail store or in-store. Shoppers greatly benefit from this real-time interaction with the product they want to purchase. Several D2C brands, digital natives such as Casper, Glossier started their online retail but later on expanded to physical availability, too. As per sources, the digitally native retail companies/brands might open 850 physical/in-stores in the coming five years.

2. Rising Social Commerce

Social media platforms have become a big rage amongst people of all ages across geographies. Different social channels are offering shoppers to shop online in a seamless manner. No need to click a third-party website for shopping, but as a user, you can directly purchase from social channels via their apps or sites. Shops are present on social media channels like Facebook, Instagram apps, or sites, and while you can browse your accounts you can see your favorite products displayed by varied shopping brands, e-commerce shops.  E-Sellers can create their labels decorated with attractive banners, colors, buttons,  images, that can be accessed from specific social channels. They have a big scope to reach a larger global audience, too. In 2020, just as the trend picked up like how TikTok and Shopify collaborated, how Facebook allowed shops to sell their products, similarly 2022 is going to see again. Social Commerce sales in the US are estimated to rise by 35% with the current year-end.

3. Enhanced Influencer Marketing

Earlier, Influencer marketing meant just eye-catching captions, creative selfies, and product shots that used to be heavily edited. This year onward (2021), we are seeing how brands are collaborating with influencers and influencer content with the raw and real aesthetic appeal are tending now and will last beyond 2022 as well. Audiences love the original appeal of the brands and not an artificial coating and edited stuff. They want the real, authentic voice that brands project for their products. Influencer content that works as edutainment(education+entertainment) for the ultimate user experience, is allowing brands to fetch greater user engagement and ROI. Video happens to be the next big thing when brick-and-mortar retail stores are still to restart massively like the earlier phase. Consumers, shoppers love to see the product digitally and feel the experience. Videos on IGTV, Reels, Live Streaming, etc. are the ways influencer marketing is becoming the retail trend for 2022 also.

4. Value-Added Supply Chain

Supply- Chain forms a significant part of the retail chain. Digital technology and tools like AI-ML, IoT, Robotics are already helping the wing with added value. For example, automated warehouses with varied robots handling goods, doing the routine work there, autonomous robots, and drones for last-mile delivery are yet to become popular but may pick up during 2022 and beyond in full swing. Besides,  retailers can make smart decisions using process automation that will lead to greater value- service. Adopting IoT(Internet-of-Things), RFID devices, help to track, trace product, and this allows retailers to access authentic real-time data. Digital tools like AI-ML Predictive Analytics help to understand KPIs thoroughly. Automating documentation at all the stages of the supply chain helps to lower costs and increase efficiency and productivity. This is going to be the major trend in the coming years.

5. Voice Commerce and Digital Chatbots

Shoppers, users, b2b or b2c customers, all are benefitting from digital chatbots and smart speakers. Amazon Echo, Google Home, and other voice-technology-enabled smart speakers have entered the homes of online shoppers. As of now, 20 percent of owners of smart speakers use voice technology/voice commerce for searching, researching products they buy, shopping activities and tracking deliveries, etc. This trend is expected to grow to 52 percent in the coming 4 years. It is estimated that the global market of smart speakers could reach beyond 35.5 billion USD by 2025. Furthermore, retailers are focusing on meeting customers where they are. This is leading to the increased use of AI-ML-enabled digital chatbots and virtual assistants. The trend is going to stay in 2022, too.

Technology Will be the Key Driver

Trends become the trends when technology intervenes. Ideally speaking, in the era of digital transformation across industries, the retail industry is way ahead in terms of technology adoption and adapting to the changing demands, and ever-changing consumer behavior. While e-commerce is increasing its foothold, the essence of brick-and-mortar retail stores will always charm the audience. It is about amalgamating the two, the omnichannel strategy as well, that will enhance the core of retailing and trends ensuing in the year 2022, and beyond!

When was the last time you did online shopping for your favorite product? Did you make online searches in search engines or search bars on varied e-commerce websites? Did you opt for Voice Search in your search process? Your answer lies in your action – adopting voice search technology like Google Next(previouslyGoogle Home) or Amazon’s Alexa. Typically voice commerce technology incorporates an AI-compatible physical device that supports a voice virtual assistant to carry commands by users. Voice is the input command. For example, Amazon’s Echo, Plus, Echo Dot are a few smart speakers that act as a platform for Alexa to run. Due to the recent trends and challenges in the retail industry, voice commerce has been gaining momentum. In this blog, we will discuss the basics of Voice Commerce and its varied applications towards e-commerce in the retai­­­l industry.

What is Voice Commerce

Voice commerce means a smart virtual assistant powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI)that allows people, businesses to multitask, i.e. searching, categorizing, purchasing, trading, etc.  It is finely integrated with portable smart devices just like  Apple’s Siri, Google’s Next, Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana. Using voice-commerce technology, customers can now purchase products merely by giving their voice commands to smart devices. Not just that, it also allows you to perform complicated functions such as solving your queries, carry out simple orders. Voice commerce technology is changing the way brands do communicate with their target audience. It is also changing the way consumers do shopping, the overall consumption habits of people. So, you see, how voice commerce is increasingly making the market more competitive at varied levels. A massive $40B voice-commerce sales are projected in the US by the year 2022.

Impact

Many e-commerce brands have started adopting voice-controlled virtual assistants (voice-commerce) in their digital strategies. Undoubtedly, voice commerce technology has created a significant impact on the e-commerce sector. You consider your example, how often do you use voice commands for search as well as placing your orders? How many times do you use Alexa or Google Assistant? If you are a business owner, enterprise, and ask Alexa/Siri, etc. to give comparative results of your competitors, competing e-commerce brands, you will be amazed at seeing the accurate results that flash before you.AS a consumer, voice-controlled virtual assistants or Conversational AI is not just limited to your shopping activity. It can do much more than searching for your queries or information, listening to your favorite music, or ordering food. Voice Commerce technology allows its virtual assistants to help you with recommendations, too. It can check your order history, search history, and based on that will come up with recommended products, or a good suggestion. So, this way voice commerce is helping the e­­­-commerce and the entire retail industry to a new level.

Benefits

The Voice Commerce technology is facilitating e-commerce stores or e-retailing businesses to leverage the evolving trend of voice-activated online shopping behavior of consumers. The following reasons can explain to you how voice-enabled search technology/ voice commerce can be beneficial for your e-commerce business:

1. Enhanced Customer Experience

Voice commerce is changing the way your customers interact with your e-commerce business. It facilitates a seamless experience for your customers and there’s no need to imply certain resources to complete the process successfully. As an e-commerce store owner or proprietor of an e-store, you can expect varied kinds of innovative solutions into the loop of your business. Indeed, the e-commerce business landscape is transforming and voice commerce technology is empowering it. Take, for example, H&M, a popular retail brand, has adopted a virtual stylist that recommends customers their most matching outfits. Helping customers in their shopping journey is enhancing their satisfaction level. If customers are satisfied, your business is automatically elevated to the next level. Thus, AI-enabled Voice Commerce technology is seamlessly integrating with customers’ shopping experience, and you should leverage this capability for your business gains!

2. Arousing Brand Connection

When your customers purchase products from your e-commerce store, they automatically get connected with your brand. When they start using your products, they develop a sense of belonging towards that product, considering it a major part of their life. This journey is greatly motivated by AI-enabled virtual assistants that give them the power to search and buy and connect ultimately with the brand they choose! The plus point is the fondness for voice search assistants by the younger generation. This generation is too keen on trying out newer technologies and leveraging the best of them. And this gives ample scope to your business growth. Since voice commerce technology follows the recommendation process, voice search brings out results that match with customers’ preferences and product descriptions. This is the positive business development for new e-commerce businesses. How? The search results based on preferences are not biased against brand presence but their relativity with the product search. New e-commerce businesses can easily get noticed now over the maps! Voice-Commerce or AI-based virtual assistants allow consumers to connect with the brands they love and seamlessly integrating with their shopping experiences.

3. Improved Search Engine Results

You can use keyword research in Google and other search engines to find out what people are buying and their current preferences for a product, brand, pricing, etc. This way, you can optimize keywords as per search volumes and related aspects. With the ever-changing demands of customers that are greatly influenced by shifting market trends, voice commerce-powered keyword research, search optimization does help online businesses to adapt accordingly. As per sources, if you give voice search commands over Google devices, the results that come out have certain correlations with Google’s featured snippets also. You can leverage this potential and optimize content that can feature you in the organic search results. If you give a significant effort to the SEO aspect, chances are more that you stand alongside top e-commerce brands in the search engines.

Helping Brands via Voice Shopping

There are two types of voice shopping that e-commerce businesses can leverage for Pre-Purchase and Order Placement activities. They are :

1. Voice Assisted Shopping- Voice commerce facilitates shopping beyond just placing an order. It helps customers in the pre-transaction phase of shopping with a comparison of pricing, quality, brand, etc. The technology helps to identify products to buy while comparing alternatives.is about more than simply placing orders. Shopping includes awareness and consideration phases in the path-to-purchase and these pre-transaction steps are already seeing increased voice engagement.
2. Voice Assisted Purchases – Digital tools & technologies, mobile apps, websites are helping customers with voice-assisted purchases and find their favorite brands, products. They are seamlessly led to the payment phase for order confirmation. For example, Alexa has this capability for ordering through Amazon.com while Google Assistant through Google Express.

On-Premise or Cloud for your E-Commerce Business

So, if you are an online retailer, e-commerce business, you can opt for voice commerce technology to enhance your business returns. You need to check your business requirement while adopting a specific deployment model. While Cloud-based solutions offer simple integrations with varied channels, On-Premise solutions allow your business to customize the workflow. Whatever model you choose, voice commerce technology gives your customers a natural interface. You cannot imagine shopping now without virtual shopping assistants. You can contact a mobile & web app development company to find the right voice-technology solution for your business.

If you are looking to build a modern e-commerce application along with integrated voice commerce capability – Contact us today!

The year 2020 will be recorded in history as the most eventful year of the century. The infamous COVID-19  pandemic has upended industries across the globe, and the Indian retail industry is one of them. The entire retail trajectory shows a stark shift in consumer behavior and the way retail business is operating throughout the country. As per BCG & RAI joint report, the Indian retail sales decreased for the first time in 2020 after decades of continuous growth. Brick & Mortar retailing suffered the most while e-commerce saw a big leap. In 2019, India ranked second in the GRDI,  Global Retail Development Index (GRDI). How about Indian retail growth prospects in 2021 and years to come? Let’s discuss in length the pre & post-pandemic status of the retail industry in India.

Consumer Purchase Behavior

In the Pre Covid era, years before 2020, the Indian retail industry saw a steady, smooth pattern in the buying behavior of consumers, their consumption pattern, and socio-demographic fundamentals were accounted for this steady growth. There was a demand for in-store shopping, and physical retail shops, malls, and supermarkets were dominant. In the meantime, e-commerce, b2c channels were also a big hit in the later part of the erstwhile decade.

In the Post Covid era, the aftermath of 2020, and the second wave that is still hovering around, the consumption patterns have started a big shift towards online retail and e-shopping. Indian consumers have become too precautious and preferring buying over online stores to visiting physical retail stores. Although lockdowns have been lifted in maximum places, the night curfew and weekend restrictions still playing hide&seek games influencing the physical retailing and consumers buying behavior.

Digital First Operations

In the pre-covid phase, the retail industry in India saw a mixed approach towards the digital adoption of modern tools and technologies. Retailers were not competing with retailers but with the influx of digital technologies to revamp the retail business model. While big retailers had moments with ‘Experiential Retail’, where adopting digital technologies was the core, small retailers (who fell into the unorganized retailing sector), failed to adapt to this change. Experiential retailing involved ATL, BTL animations, blended physical and digital shopping to deliver convenient accessibility, good customer experience, and solid in-store features. Digital technologies like IoT helped b2b in-store marketing efforts for retail brands. IoT tech helped retail in-store and malls in the lighting system, handling of electric switches as well as garbage disposal units, and the Point of Sales Units (PoS).

In the post–covid phase, the digital-first operations elevating to the next level. As per  Anand Narang, VP- Marketing & Consumers experience, Bata India limited, the entire financial year 2020-21 has proved to be challenging for retail business across India, due to pandemic as well as countrywide lockdowns. However, Sales in Bata reached 15% of the total sales of the previous year thanks to digital channels. Also, they divided consumers into three categories- Digital Natives, Digital Adopters, Digital Novices. Thus, the post-covid retail in India is delivering services as per the very three categories of consumers. For this, they are adopting the Digital – First Approach. The social media front also helping businesses to combat the intangible effects of the pandemic.

Major Drivers

Pre-Covid Indian Retail saw a big surge in online retailing. The major drivers of online retail were:

• Increased penetration of the internet
• Smartphone users increased massively
• Online shoppers increased immensely
• Make In India initiative of Indian Government

The Indian government’s initiative of ‘Make in India’ propelled focus on the local manufacturing that led to creating more jobs, increasing the GDP per capita, which started making people reliable and improve their lifestyle.

Post-Covid Retail in India also seeing the above-mentioned drivers as major a boost to sustain the harsh impact of covid led lockdowns and retail shops shuttered down. However, the three major drivers for the post-covid retail are:

• E-Commerce/Digital Retail Channels
• Mobile App based Shopping
• Digital Wallets

While e-commerce or online retailing is thriving exponentially in India, even customers are enjoying the competitive prices and ever-increasing options for products at the minimum rates. Retailers in India are indeed rejoicing the impact as they need to spend less on real estate and can reach out to maximum customers even in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

Predictions

• India’s e-commerce retail is expected to rise by 84%  to USD 111B by  2024 (source-IBEF)
• Mobile shopping to increase 21% annually in next 4 years
• Online retail penetration to increase by 10.7% by the year 2024 (it was 4.7% in 2019)

Conclusion

The retail industry in India is expanding after a short-term hiatus. As per a recent joint report prepared by BCG and RAI, the shift in consumer preferences has been categorized into four categories-  Mobile Phones, Staples, Food-Ordering, and Apparel. While some of these shifts are short-term, others will have long-term implications, for the supply-chain side. Mobile shopping, mobile apps, e-retail are going to thrive. The rapid urbanization, entry of foreign players, rising income as well as favorable demographics are going the be the major drivers for boosting the retail industry in India.

Are you prepared to cope up with evolving retail trends and challenges in these tough times? Reach us to know more.

Are you an etailer, or an online seller in the e-commerce platform? Then this piece of news is relevant to you. The Indian government has recently introduced  Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules,2020, that calls for certain mandatory curbs in online retail practices. Well, it all started with major complaints put forth by small businesses, brick-and-mortar traders that some e-commerce key players were flouting local laws. However, many private, public, and government agencies are expressing concerns, arguing that the very proposed consumer protection rules will affect “ the ease of doing business”.Not only that, it will greatly impact the overall investment sentiments, too! India’s e-commerce market is estimated to grow to a massive $200B by the year 2026 (source-Reuters), but, with the new set of e-commerce rules, what’s the probability of this figure? What’s your take on this? Let’s discuss the overall impact!

What Are the Rules

The Consumer Protection(E-Commerce) Rules,2020, applies to all e-tailers (electronic retailers) that are registered either in India or abroad, and offering goods & services to Indian Consumers. As per the rules:

• An e-commerce company will have to display the overall price, the total price of goods & services they’ll be selling, and there has to be a detailed break-up of other charges,if any.
• Mandatory mention of ‘Expiry Date’ of selling goods.
• Mandatory mention of ‘Country of Origin’ of goods & services.
• Mandatory display of details about return & refund, warranty, guarantee,  exchange policies, delivery, shipment, and anything related information.
• Sellers who are selling goods/services through a marketplace, the above details need to be given by the concerned e-commerce entity that’d be displayed on the former’s website.
• E-commerce entities cannot impose ‘cancellation charges’, cannot ‘manipulate prices’, and need to provide information about all the payment methods & their security, fees/charges to be paid by users, the contact information of the payment service provider.
• E-commerce entities have to display details of ‘sellers’ including business names, geographic address, ratings/feedback, customer care number, and whether they are registered or not.
• Provision of a ticket number for a complaint lodged by the consumer so that tracking is possible.
• Inventory e-commerce entities cannot falsely advertise, cannot refuse to withdraw services or take back goods.
• Banning of ‘flash sales’ but ‘conventional flash sales’ will continue.
• If selling imported goods/services, then need to go for a mandatory listing of local alternatives.
• Mandatory registration is required with DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade).

Impact on E-Commerce Players

The new e-commerce rules will be impacting all the online retailers, e-commerce players including the bigwigs, too. Due to the raised costs and other curbs, e-commerce dominant players will be forced to review their business models (source- Reuters). Business costs will increase. One major impact will be the rule that asks for local alternatives while selling imported goods. This move is seen as a major boost to ‘Made in India’ goods but not that healthy for e-commerce players. As per industry sources, this concept is all about promoting local goods but is not conducive for e-commerce platforms. However, it is up to you, as an e-commerce player, how to leverage the good sides of the rules levied and create an opportunity for yourself! Explore, and, Execute!

Another clause that is going to impact is the requirement where e-commerce companies/firms need to ensure that the enterprise related to them must not be listed as sellers within their shopping websites. Also, an affiliate entity cannot sell goods to any online seller which is operating on its platform.

­­­­­­­­The new Indian E-commerce rules are seen as a government alternative to formulating a stringent foreign investment law. The result will be higher restrictions for business dealings with sellers on the part of e-commerce players. Moreover, a ban on flash sales is going to change the shopping experience for consumers.

Impact on Sellers

Positive side- The new India e-commerce rules are going to impact sellers as well. So, if you are a seller, restrictions levied on e-commerce players to display their sellers’ advertisements, to promote them on their platforms, are going to put you in the steering seat. Means, your advertisement, promotion, will be taken care of by you only, and there won’t be any interference from your platform provider.

Negative side- The e-tailers, e-commerce giants cannot advertise sellers who are offering discounts. Moreover, the tight guidelines for not allowing any ‘misleading’ ads about quality, guarantee, pricing will be affecting sellers’ potential to expand further. Online advertising business will be affected, too. And what about the provision of details about Country of origin(CoO)? Major e-commerce players have more than millions of products listed on their websites. So, will that prove to be conducive for sellers on their platforms? Again, create opportunities out of the constraints!

Impact on Consumers

Consumers are going to gain!

Take the clause of cancellation charges & explicit consent from consumers. What does that mean? Typically, e-tailers clearly highlight certain items as non-returnable during the pre-purchase stage. They offer refunds or free exchanges to consumers. But now on, they need to ask for explicit consumer consent. Someone’s compromise is going to prove consumers’ gains! Moreover, there will be transparency in the shopping experience as brand names will show original ones and not the platforms they are selling at. Moreover, if imported goods are for sale, like those from China or any other foreign country, then there have to be alternative suggestions ranging from Indian local goods, too. And, you know the sentiments of Indian consumers. You guessed it!

Bottomline

There’s no qualm that the new India e-commerce rules are a giant leap for promoting  ‘Made in India’  products in the Indian market and beyond. At the same time, the e-commerce giants are also bearing the heat of restrictions and curbs levied upon them. But the underlying intent of the very e-commerce rules is simple – bringing transparency in the entire ecosystem and that is absolutely fine, fair, and genuine! After all, disruptions are known to bring about new changes, and can we expect something big unfurling, in the e-commerce segment, in near future? Let’s wait and watch!

Are you an Indian retailer or e-tailer looking to empower your business while abiding by the new India e-commerce rules in place? Reach us to know more.

Are you a Wholesaler or planning to start a wholesale business on an e-commerce platform?  You can either build your website dedicated to your wholesale business or, you can choose an e-commerce platform like Shopify, Amazon, Indiamart, and so on. These e-commerce platforms are the marketplaces where retail companies buy and sell products. Creating your unique identity in an existing online marketplace needs to follow certain guidelines. On the other hand, you can build and launch your unique wholesale e-commerce platform. To do that, you need to consult a dedicated web & mobile application development company for the step-to-step development process. In this blog, we will discuss both the options – Popular online marketplaces or e-commerce platforms, and, the guideline for a few basic mandatory features you should adopt for your wholesale b2b e-commerce yet-to-launch website.

Top Features of Platform

1. Synchronizing Data

Your website/e-commerce platform should have the feature that synchronizes data from varied, multiple channels. You know how people are super active on so many channels. This is the virtual world, and people just love to hop on places upon clicks, in seconds. Don’t you agree, too? People, businesses, b2b customers search across channels available on the web and do fundamental research for products/services before buying. So, as a wholesaler on an e-commerce platform, you get opportunities to sell your products on multiple channels. Indeed a valuable addition to your sales. However, you have to smartly organize data residing on all the platforms and ensure data security. The detail of your buyers, payment transactions, delivery status and so many details that concern your wholesale business is available online. Make sure your website is perfectly synchronizing all these data and does the needful. This is a very prominent feature that your website should have.

2. Mobile App

As per Statista report, there are more than 3 billion smartphone users across the globe. This has opened up an attractive avenue for retail businesses and you being a wholesaler, need to capitalize on this. Your website/wholesale e-commerce platform has to be mobile-friendly and compatible with all types of smart devices where b2b customers, or the buyers, are present most of their time,i.e., mobile, tablet, iOS platform, Androids, and so on.

3. Integration with Third Parties

Your wholesale website is not the only platform where your customers/clients come and interact. Your e-commerce platform should have pre-sales as well as post-sales touchpoints, too. For instance, content, advertisements, campaigns, research, are few pre-sales points whereas, upselling,cross-selling, etc. are post-sales points. Thus, your website needs to have this feature of integrating with other platforms, tools to manage all the touchpoints.

4. Customer Support Feature

As a responsible wholesaler, your website should provide your b2b customers with strong support and service 24*7. The customer support service feature makes sure your e-commerce platform is dedicated to the service you provide while caring for your customers is an equal priority. This facilitates an increase in conversion rates.

5. Content Marketing

Content is the king. And how your website presents content to your target audience attributes a lot to your business gains. It means, your wholesale e-commerce platform needs to have a content marketing tool appropriately designed and placed. This feature leads to your brand awareness, the recognition in the market as well as engaging your customers, prospects, into the sales funnels. Competitive videos, images, blogs,infographics,etc. are some content examples that can be duly leveraged for your business gains.

Popular E-Commerce Platforms

1. IndiaMart

Indiamart is a popular e-commerce platform for b2b and b2c businesses. It caters to the Indian market specifically and is the topmost online b2b marketplace in India connecting buyers with wholesalers. You can connect to this platform and start building your wholesale business. Follow the guidelines and get connected to your potential buyers. Plenty of categories and verified buyers is the plus point – 72 M+ products & services, 125M+ buyers,6.5M+ suppliers. This is the popularity of the very e-commerce platform.

2. Alibaba.com

Alibaba group is based in China.  Alibaba.com is a subsidiary of the giant group. This wholesale e-commerce platform hosts varied wholesale businesses and support a very large user base. The process to sign-up here is simple and whichever category you belong to, you will find your place. You can easily set up your wholesale business here and the plus point is its compatibility with multiple language options as well as multiple payment options. The platform charges $100 for service, and also offers logistics support.

3. X Cart

X Cart is a popular e-commerce platform for wholesalers and is considered to be more cost-effective as compared to other platforms. Its usability power is immense as it can let you connect your CRM, ERP, POS without writing codes on your part. X Cart offers multi-language support and omnichannel content management, too.

4. Amazon Business

Amazon is a household name today. Amazon Business is dedicated exclusively to  B2B transactions between retailers and wholesalers. As a wholesaler, you can freely sign-up here and compare your products with your competitors and plan your offers accordingly. You can create multiple users accounts on this platform and can use varied payment methods. You can check its website for further guidance.

5. Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus gives you the dedicated services categorized under Sell, Manage, Integrate, Migrate! When you visit the very e-commerce platform, you will be mesmerized by the way it delivers its message for wholesalers like you. There lies a dedicated ‘wholesale e-commerce’ section and the message reads  “Wholesale without the hassle”. You get a self-service online platform to sell directly to your b2b customers!

Bottomline

E-Commerce is thriving, growing exponentially, and is a big contributing factor for the worldwide transformation in the retail industry. Every day there is a new addition to the platform (buyer or seller). Wholesalers like you are connecting manufacturers, distributors, retailers globally and proving a big boon to the supply chain segment. So, you need to decide what you want now. Want to start selling in a marketplace ready for you, like Amazon Business or Shopify Plus? Or, you want to start your e-commerce platform and stand in the league of giants like Alibaba and India Mart! You decide because it is your wholesale business.

Are you an aspiring wholesaler, or an established player in the market? We have an e-commerce solution to take your business to new heights of success. Contact our experts today to get started.

The global E-Commerce market is going to become one of the favorite investing options amongst investors worldwide. Global e-commerce is estimated to reach a massive 16,215.6 billion USD in valuation by the year 2027 ( source-Yahoo finance). Retailers are realizing the importance of the e-commerce market thereby actively choosing online platforms, or, blending physical with online platforms creating a phygital environment in the shopping world. As a retailer, you can do so in two ways: choosing marketplaces where customers can buy your products, and another option, building your e-commerce site and application. New e-commerce markets are emerging with each passing day while the journey for established markets is reaching new milestones. In this blog, we will talk about the world’s largest e-commerce markets by country and see how the e-commerce market looks promising down the line.

Quick Facts

• The global e-commerce market reached unprecedented heights in 2020, with a massive sales growth of about 33.6%, reaching $799.18 billion.
• As people are getting accustomed to the new normal, e-commerce sales are further estimated to grow by 13.7%, thereby reaching a huge $908.73 billion (source-yahoo finance).
• Amazon.com, Walmart Inc., eBay Inc., Shopify Inc. are spreading wings on the online platform in the current pandemic, gaining analysts, investors’ confidence.

With Mobile phone penetration in people’s lives, mobile shopping reached a huge $284 billion in the year 2020, which amounted to 45% of the overall e-commerce market in the US (source- Insider Intelligence).

1. China

China is the top-ranking country in the world for the e-commerce market. With the latest sales forecast statistics showing $2,779.3 billion ­­­­, China leads in the digital commerce world. Alibaba Group is the unanimous leader in the market with its varied online subsidiaries. China’s retail sales have exponentially grown over the last decades and probably the first country in world history where e-commerce sales have surpassed physical retail sales. At present, retail e-commerce sales stand at 52.1% of the country’s total retail sales. China has the largest population of online buyers in the world despite there exist very tough restrictions on importing goods. The e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has the following subsidiaries adding to the company’s economy :

• Alibaba.com
• Taobao
• Tmall
• 11 Main
• Fliggy Corporate
• AliExpress

Besides Alibaba, Pinduoduo, JD.com were the notable Chinese e-commerce retail brands that had together accounted for 80% of the total retail sales (online platform) in 2019.

2. USA

The USA comes after China in the global e-commerce market ranking, and in 2021, e-commerce sales are expected to reach $843.15 billion (source-eMarketer) in the country. The USA had been leading the e-commerce global market until China overtook the position. Today, giants like Amazon,eBay are based in the US making it the second largest e-commerce market, and a massive $340billion e-commerce sales are reported to have taken place this year, and it comes out to be7.5% of the total sales in retail. 49% surge in the online retail sales in the country is attributed to coronavirus as 90% of buyers/shoppers were reluctant to shop in a retail physical store.

3. UK

The United Kingdom (UK) has recorded  $180 billion in e-commerce sales in the year 2020, and a little lower side forecast of $169.02 billion for 2021. However, the UK is the world’s third top e-commerce market so far. As per eMarketer prediction, the online platform, e-commerce sales will represent 28.5% of the total retail sales in the year 2022. Today, it stands at 28.3%. Only a  minor increase is showing as per this prediction for 2022. Play.com, Amazon U.K, and Argos are some of the biggest e-commerce retailers that contribute to the country’s ranking on top. In reality, the country has a big scope for e-commerce businesses looking to explore cross-border opportunities. However, there’s been some VAT rule changes post BREXIT. Travel, Sports-Items, Household Items, Fashion are some top-selling product categories.

4. Japan

The expected $144.08 billion e-commerce retail sales for  2021 justifies  Japan’s position as the 4^th topmost e-commerce market in the world. Japan is a growing player and is creating spur in the b2c market(doubled in the last decade). Earlier, the country was dominating in the b2b e-commerce market. There’s been c2c growth, too. As per JP Morgan’s estimate, the current b2c market is around $112.4 billion, while expected to reach $143.3 billion by the year 2025. And this is just for the b2c market(not b2b and c2c). Some top-ranking e-commerce companies are Amazon, Yodobashi,Apple,plst.com.

5. South Korea

South Korea is the world’s 5^th and Asia’s 3^rd  top e-commerce market with massive e-commerce sales projected at $120.56 billion for 2021. And, the country is very famous for its fastest, wireless internet speed. The online consuming habits of South Korea can be connected with the fastest internet speed as well the fact that people there are very fond of M-Commerce. Some local marketplaces that make the country world’s 5^th largest e-commerce market are GMarket, Coupang.

India as a Top E-Commerce Market

Standing at a $ 67.53 billion sales record in online retail (source-eMarketer), India ranks as one of the top 10  e-commerce markets worldwide. The country is poised to become the 3^rd biggest market globally in online retail by 2030 (source-Redseer), only next to the US, and China, expected to reach $350 billion worth GMV by that year. New online shoppers are adding to the list every day and 88% of the new addition will further fuel the growth of this sector over the next decade(2020-2030) and will hail from small cities. Interestingly, the new section of D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) brands that directly sell to consumers online, is going to boost the Indian e-commerce retail market in the coming years. Despite the pandemic, 20 million new shoppers were added to online retail in 2020. The figure is expected to be doubled this year, 2021 (source-RedSeer).

Conclusion        

Consumers are mostly buying things on the online platform and this trend unexpectedly grew very high due to the COVID-19  and consequent restrictions in movement and staying at home being the only option. For instance, in the UK, two out of five shoppers say that they will choose e-commerce platforms for online purchases even after the COVID crisis gets over, and this is going to happen across the world. B2B, B2C, C2C, D2C, all are adopting the convenient platform of e-commerce that is so promising in terms of business returns and high-value purchasing experience.

Leveraging E-Commerce Markets in a true sense is very difficult, it requires sound e-commerce application plus market expertise and industry knowledge. Reach our experts today to know more.