Amazon clear favourite among online shoppers

Within three years of its foray into the Indian e-retail market place, Amazon has emerged as a clear favourite destination among online consumers in metropolitan areas, according to according to Forrester’s Consumer Technographics Asia-Pacific Online Benchmark Survey, 2016.

“Amazon’s takeover has been rapid: 30 % of respondents in Forrester's 2014 survey reported buying from Amazon; this year, 76 % said they did”, said Satish Meena, an analyst in Forrester research team.

Only last week, Amazon had surpassed Flipkart to become the most downloaded app on the Google and Apple app stores in the first quarter of this year, he said.

Amazon entered India in June 2013 — six years after the launch of Flipkart (2007) and Snapdeal (2010) — and made a commitment to invest $5 billion in the Indian online retail market at a time when Indian players were facing valuation markdowns and fund-raising difficulties.

Although online retail still accounts for less than 2 % of India’s total retail sales, it is growing at a rapid rate. Forrester expects it to exceed $75 billion by 2020.

However, most of the growth is discount-oriented and directed toward just 50 million online buyers, who comprise a small percentage of Indian shoppers.

In order to keep growing at the steady pace, online retailers need to penetrate beyond Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities into smaller cities and villages where customer acquisition stands challenged by issues such as lack of Internet access, payment methods, logistics, and language support, said Meena.