30% growth registered in online shopping space
eBay plans mobile platform to tap growing demand.
Travel accounts for about 80-85 per cent of the total e-commerce market in the country at about Rs 9,500 crore while shopping for products accounts for just about 15-20 per cent.
India might soon emerge as a significant player in the online shopping space with the country posting over 30 per cent growth in 2008-09, according to Mr Kashyap Vadapalli, Director-Marketing, eBay India.
“According to figures estimated by IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India), the online shopping industry grew by about 30 per cent last year, but our estimate is that the growth has been stronger than that. With this kind of growth, India can soon emerge as a significant player on online shopping platform,” Mr Vadapalli said at a press conference to share the findings of the eBay India Census 2009 here.
Travel accounts for about 80-85 per cent of the total e-commerce market in the country at about Rs 9,500 crore while shopping for products accounts for just about 15-20 per cent, he said.
There are close to 45-50 million Internet users in the country. However, the broadband penetration is as low as 10 per cent, he said. “Out of 45-50 million Internet users, only 8-10 million people use the online platform for shopping. Unless the broadband penetration increases, it will be difficult for e-commerce to evolve.”
Mobile platform
To tap the growing demand for online shopping, eBay plans to launch mobile-based shopping platform in 2010. The company will either look at a WAP-based or SMS-based application to enable shopping using mobile handsets.
“We launched a mobile-based shopping platform in the US six months back and we have already clocked sales worth Rs 500 million since then,” he pointed out.
eBay, Mr Vadapalli said, has one lakh visitors a day and a registered user base of 33 lakh customers. “Of the one lakh customers who visit our Web site on a daily basis, we have an activity rate of about six-to-seven per cent, which includes both bid and buy transactions,” he added.
The company, which currently has a dedicated second-hand car portal for the business-to-business category will soon roll out similar services for individual customers. “We are looking at having consumer-related auto vertical in the next three-to-six months. We will start with auto spare parts, accessories and then slowly get into the second-hand car space,” he said.
Kolkata was the seventh largest e-commerce hub in the country, according to the eBay India Census 2009. “Technology got a major share of the city’s online shoppers’ wallets at about 45 per cent of all transactions. Loose diamonds, value handsets, Indian coins, laptop accessories and USB drives were the other frequently bought items by online customers in the city,” the Census said.
