Retail ecommerce sales in India will climb 31.0% this year to reach $32.70 billion, according to eMarketer’s latest forecast. That growth rate will trail only China and Indonesia in Asia-Pacific. eMarketer expect that a quarter of the population will be digital shoppers this year. By 2022, this share will rise to 41.6%.
eMarketer says that this growth has been enabled in part by the ecommerce market leaders in India — Flipkart, Amazon and Paytm Mall— who have been expanding into new sectors, including grocery.
Despite the strong growth rate, retail ecommerce will make up just 2.9% of total retail sales in 2018.
“Ecommerce is booming in India thanks to increased internet users and cheaper smartphones,” said Eric Haggstrom, forecasting analyst at eMarketer. “In tandem with this shift to online and mobile usage, Flipkart, Amazon and Paytm Mall have been competing fiercely to claim their share of the Indian market. All three of these companies are making large investments, which include improved logistics and payment systems, as well as offering deep discounts, which will fuel future growth in the market.