Indian eCommerce is not limited to Delhi, Mumbai, and other major metro cities. India’s $80 billion eCommerce market has seen tremendous improvement in the last few years.
Government initiatives coupled with rising digital penetration has now made eCommerce accessible in almost every corner of the country. 76% of the nation now owns a smart phone and has access to the internet.
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How does this help eCommerce growth?
Hear are some interesting numbers to show you the true extent of love that Indians are showing for shopping online on their phones:
- Indians are second only to the Chinese when it comes to shopping online
- Mobile phone users spent 12.84 billion hours on shopping apps in 2023
- The share of apps by Indian publishers has gone up from 47.6% in total downloads within the country in 2020 to 54.6% in 2023.
As more Indians get on the internet, they look for avenues to shop online.
eCommerce beyond metro cities
New eCommerce hotspots are emerging in various parts of the country giving tough competition to metro cities.
The new cities that are seeing an incredible growth in online shopping are:
- Varanasi
- Allahabad
- Gorakhpur
- Noida
- Jamshedpur
- Ranchi
- Imphal
- Agartala
- Silchar
- Shillong
eCommerce platforms are now expanding their operations in these cities to cater to the rising demand and consumer interest.
These new eCommerce hubs are further fuelled by the growth of UPI. Digital payments through UPI has allowed more people to make cashless transactions when purchasing online! A Redseer report has shown that 70% of the UPI users are from outside Tier 1 cities and 80% of these new users are from Tier 2 cities!
ONDC and it’s role in eCommerce growth
ONDC – the government backed eCommerce network is now live in 620+ cities in India!
This network has especially been catalytic for the growth of digital first brands in smaller towns and cities because of its ability to connect them to multiple logistics providers seamlessly.
To explain the difference – earlier if a small business from a smaller town had to deliver a product in some other part of the country, they would have to jump through various hoops. From choosing an affordable shipping provider to warehousing service to a last mile delivery partner in the destination city.
With ONDC, they now have an array of options to choose from on one platform for the entire delivery process.
Choosing Instamojo for growth
Instamojo, a D2C tech platform that is launching small businesses online, has seen a rapid rise in customers from the Hindi heartland – namely Haryana, Allahabad and more. There was a 170% Year over Year growth in sellers from Tier 2 and 3 cities!
Looking for an eCommerce platform that is affordable and simple to use? You can create your account on Instamojo for free.
