India's e-commerce market is on track to grow to $6 billion in 2015, a 70% increase over 2014 revenue of $3.5 billion, according to Gartner.
Praveen Sengar, research director at Gartner, said digital commerce in the country is still at a nascent stage, representing less than 4% of the total retail market, but it is one of the fastest growing e-commerce markets in the Asia-Pacific region.
“B2C e-commerce leads the market in India, while B2B is limited to organizations that drive online channels to integrate with their partners and distributors,” Sengar said.
Gartner said mobile commerce is also increasing traction and marketplaces, consumer product goods, and food and beverages companies have taken notice and started investing in mobile commerce.
Currently, less than 5% of total digital commerce happens through mobile, but Gartner believes it will help organization skip the desktop wave with increasing penetration of affordable smart devices with connectivity and a rapidly growing ecosystem to engage customers on mobile.
Some 30% of traffic for e-commerce sites now come from mobile and tablets.
“The digital commerce platform market is maturing; incumbent vendors are investing in building out their commerce platforms, and those in adjacent areas, such as search, order management and marketing — both through organic development and acquisition,” Sengar said.
Gartner sees digital companies expanding investments in personalization, digital marketing, Web analytics and big data in order to stay competitive. India has approximately 200 million users on social networks, and it is an important channel to understand and engage with customers.