Retail in Asia

In Trends

Riding fast on the e-way

India’s online marketplaces are blazing ahead with Amazon leading the way, Flipkart a shade behind and Snapdeal at third position. As per comScore data, Amazon India has received 23.6 million unique visitors, Flipkart, 23.5 million and Snapdeal, 17.9 million in May 2015, a recent study on the growth of retail (online and physical) in India said. And the entire online retail segment grew 40 percent in the financial year 2013-14 while organised physical retail grew by a mere 10-12 percent and the whole brick and mortar retail industry grew by just 6-7 percent.

The country’s retail sector has definitely turned a corner with big brand brick and mortar stores going omni-channel and the large online players breaking into a pace that could see them racing past the old retail chains that do not have an e-presence.

"All new channels grow faster than established channels in initial years," says Rakesh Biyani, joint managing director, Future Retail. And he believes, "Retail across channels has the potential to grow over the next two decades. Any retailer that will create an omni-channel retail presence (capabilities to service customers seamlessly across channels) will most likely get a bigger share of the growth in consumption."