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The Indian kaleidoscope: emerging trends in

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Article · January 2015

DOI: 10.17148/IJARCCE.2015.4110

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 ISSN (Online) : 2278-1021
ISSN (Print) : 2319-5940

International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer and Communication Engineering

Vol. 4, Issue 1, January 2015

The Indian kaleidoscope: emerging trends in

M-Commerce
S.Muthukumar 1, Dr.N.Muthu 2
Research Scholar, St Peters’ University, Avadi, Chennai1
Professor, Department of Management Studies, Saveetha Engineering College, Chennai2
Abstract: India is the second largest cellular market in the world after China, with a massive
subscriber base of 867.80 million, as of March 2013. Majority of smartphone users are still on 2G
network. Budget 4G smartphones coupled with affordable plans, can very well drive 4G growth in
India. The most obvious mobile commerce trend is further development. Yearly m-commerce sales
are forecasted to increase fourfold billion in the next few years. Businesses are beginning to realize
that m-commerce is key to enhance their brand, boost sales, and keep up with competitors.India’s
retail market is expected to cross 1.3 trillion USD by 2020 from the current market size of 500
billion USD. Modern retail with a penetration of only 5% is expected to grow about six times from
the current 27 billion USD to 220 billion USD, across all categories and segments.India is set to
witness proliferation of the fourth-generation wireless data services, or 4G services shortly with
slashed data plans. Being the second largest mobile market in the world, India needs to take its
place in the forefront of providing innovative services and applications to its citizens. Recent
eMarketer study, by the year 2017 more than 25% of all online retail transactions will happen in the
mobile paradigm. Adweek explains that statistic with information that 18-34 year olds are very
likely to use their mobile devices as a shopping tool. Their process is to visit their favorite retail
stores not to shop but to view a product and compare prices, and then to compare prices at various
online locations using their phones. They then buy the product using their mobile device. The
future looks very bright for mobile commerce, although businesses are still experimenting with
how to use the mobile commerce concept to their best advantage.
Keywords: m-commerce, trends, future, e –tail

INTRODUCTION

"Broadband and digital services will no longer INDIA: SECOND BIGGEST INTERNET
be a luxury item - a scarce commodity - to be USER IN THE WORLD
rationed amongst the privileged few," Forbes The number of Internet users in India reach 302
magazine million by December 2014, registering a Y-o-Y
Indian internet user is becoming the second growth of 32% over last year, according to a
largest in the world next to China surpassing US, report ‘Internet in India 2014’, published by the
which throws open plenty of e-commerce Internet and Mobile Association of India
opportunities, not only for Indian players, (IAMAI) and IMRB International. For growing
offshore players as well. Chinese firms coming from 10 million to 100 million it took a decade
forward for investments in Indian e-tail market, for India, where as within three years it has
product launches through flipcart, Rupay, doubled to 200 million and just one year to
development of broadband infrastructure, etc, become 300 million to become the second
evidence revolutionary growth in the days to largest market of the world. Growth profile is
come. E-commerce explosion through mobile indicated below with the breakup of rural market
devices is discussed with special emphasis to which is considered to be quite promising.
Indian scenario.

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 ISSN (Online) : 2278-1021
ISSN (Print) : 2319-5940

International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer and Communication Engineering

Vol. 4, Issue 1, January 2015

EXHIBIT NO.1. GROWTH OF INTERNET AND MOBILE SUBSCRIBERS IN INDIA

Internet users in India Urban vs Rural growth
Period Urban Rural
Growth YOY 29% 39%
October 2014 177mn 101mn
December 2014 190mn 112mn
(Projection)
June 2015 216mn 138mn
(Projection)

Growth of Mobile Telephones

Dec‘12 864.72
Mar’12 867.80
Jun’12 873.36
Sep,12 870.58
Dec’13 886.30
Source: IAMAI-IMRB I-cube estimates Mar’14 904.51
Source : TRAI
China currently leads with more than 600 million internet users while the US currently has
estimated 279 million internet users. As on June 2014, 31.5 million (61%) in 35 cities were using
Internet on a daily basis. The daily user base has gone up by 51% from June 2013. 96% of the
Internet users are accessing Internet at least once a week. Out of these, 18% access Internet 4 to 6
times a week and 14% access Internet 2 to 3 times a week.

EXHIBIT NO. 2. FREQUENCY AND PURPOSE OF ACCESS IN URBAN INDIA

Purpose Percentage
Search 93%
Online 86%
Social networking 84%
Entertainment 76%
Online transaction 63%
Online shopping 61%
Source: IMRB I-cube, June 2014.
Base:52.5 Mn Internet users, 35 cities

In urban India, for nearly 93% of the respondents, the primary use of Internet is Search, followed
by Online Communication and Social Networking. However, in rural India, Entertainment is the
primary reason for internet usage, followed by communication and social networking. The purpose
of accessing Internet in rural India as per i-cube estimated is primarily for entertainment,
communication and social networking.

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 ISSN (Online) : 2278-1021
ISSN (Print) : 2319-5940

International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer and Communication Engineering

Vol. 4, Issue 1, January 2015

EXHIBIT NO.3: INCREASING SMARTPHONE AND MOBILE UTILITY

Growth of smartphone users in India

Penetration of smartphones in 2013

Malaysia Thailand Indonesia India Philippines
80% 49% 23% 18% 15%

In 2016, Asia-Pacific is predicted to account for 57.7% of the world’s mobile phone users, and as
much as 40% of global mobile data traffic by 2015. Given that in 2013, only 22% of Asian
consumers had a mobile broad band subscription, there is a huge potential for growth in the market.
According to data from Nielsen (2014), smartphone penetration in developing Asia Pacific markets
is also gaining traction. Thailand’s smartphone penetration is at 49 percent followed by Indonesia
(23%), India (18%) and the Philippines (15%). In India, WiFi is often accessed by mobile users in
community centers or internet cafes. This reflects the slow pick up of 3G connections in India,
which have reached a penetration level of 3.4% in January 2014. This slow start in 3G adoption
(the first 3G connections in India were launched in 2010) is a struggle that many nations face, as it
takes time for mobile ecosystems (devices, connectivity, use cases) to fully develop.

Exhibit No.4 : 3G subscription in India (Mn)

(Source: Avendus,2013)
Factors influencing the growth of Mobile utility
1. Increase in rural income as well as urbanisation
2. Increase in easy access to credit and consumer awareness
3. Growth of modern trade format across urban, Tier I, Tier II and Tier III cities and towns
4. Rapid urbanisation and growing
5. Trend towards nuclear families
According to economic times, Providing access to faster broadband speeds and easing of payment
norms in the country can play an important role in further boosting growth in e-commerce sector in
India - Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

Urban rural digital divide : According to the report, the number of mobile internet users has also
witnessed a steady rise, with 159 million mobile internet users in October, and is estimated to reach
173 million by the end of December. In October, there were 119 million users accessing the
Internet on mobile devices, in urban India. Rural India is not that far behind in this regard with a
base of 40 million mobile Internet users in October 2013 as indicated below.
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 ISSN (Online) : 2278-1021
ISSN (Print) : 2319-5940

International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer and Communication Engineering

Vol. 4, Issue 1, January 2015

Exhibit No.5: Mobile Internet users in India

(Source: i-cube IMRB, October 2014)

According to The Times of India, among the Indian cities, Mumbai tops the list of internet users
followed by Delhi, Kolkatta, Bangalore and Chennai. The reason for rapid growth of Kolkatta is
that Kolkata and its suburbs are well covered by 3G and have witnessed more than 200% growth in
3G internet users.
Exhibit No. 6: Growth of eCommerce in India

M-commerce becoming the trend

According to Hindu Business Line, India is the second largest mobile phone market with more than
930 million customers. IDC data says that the domestic Smartphone market grew 84 per cent in the
second quarter of 2014 and is expected to grow rapidly. Major reason for the increase in mobile
commerce is the penetration of smartphone into the rural markets, 45 per cent of the online users in
India access internet only through their mobile phones.

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 ISSN (Online) : 2278-1021
ISSN (Print) : 2319-5940

International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer and Communication Engineering

Vol. 4, Issue 1, January 2015

EXHIBIT NO7: INDIAN M-COMMERCE – AT A GLANCE

 1505 CAGR till 2016
 200% jump in flipcart cell visit
 30% B2B, trade India through cell
 35% eBay traffic through cell
 60% revenue through cell for Snapdeal
 800% growth through mobile
 Indian eCommerce market $4b
(Accel partners study)

(Source:http://www.digit.in/telecom/mobile-commerce-in-india-ready-to-hit-mainstream)

At Present, India has over 800 million mobile subscribers with 240 million subscribers with bank
accounts which has a very strong infrastructure like 88,000 branches and 70,000 cash points. An
amazing 200 credit card holders are in the country. The half of the Indian households is still
unbanked, including 42% holding atleast one mobile phone. This opens a great opportunity for
mobile phone industry and financial institutions to galvanize mobile commerce services in India.
The latest BCG report has also projected that the fee-based revenue from mobile commerce could
well over $4.5 billion by 2015 in India. "Banks, under the mandate of the Reserve Bank of India,
have made significant efforts to improve security. Therefore, while cash-on-delivery continues to be
a significant portion (50%-60%) of the mode of payment chosen by customers, usage of debit cards
and net banking have also gone up steeply,"-Ankit Khanna, senior VP Snapdeal

Mobile payment transaction growth, combined with biometrics, will ensure increased speed of
mobile commerce. The following figure illustrates expected mobile transactions.
MOBILE COMMERCE-CONSUMER PERSPECTIVE

(Source: comscore)

Report suggests that in India 30 per cent come from mobile phones, however, presently less than
5per cent of total digital commerce happens through mobile. IT research and advisory firm Gartner,
the eCommerce market is expected to grow 70 per cent and touch $6 billion in 2015. Most leading
players expect 90 per cent of their online shopping to come through smartphones and tablets within
the next few years. Online frauds in India is low, the private sector and international banks
grabbing a huge share of the market HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, are miles ahead in supporting
online purchases, right from providing payment gateways to offering financing options to users. A
bigger opportunity is from offering EMI options to finance online purchases. In the case of online
retailers, many banks have introduced EMI schemes, especially for high-value electronic durables
and mobiles. According to market estimates, India's online credit market is worth about Rs 6,500
crore in terms of loan value and is growing at a CAGR of 200% over 2010-13. With the huge
market potential offered by smartphones, companies such as Snapdeal, Flipkart, Myntra, among
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 ISSN (Online) : 2278-1021
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International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer and Communication Engineering

Vol. 4, Issue 1, January 2015

others, have already launched mobile applications. According to Financial express, SoftBank
become the largest e-tailer investor in the country for 2014, worth $3bn investments in Snapdeal
and Olacabs. A total investment in e-commerce firms during 2014 in India is about $3005 mn.
India is expected to move from 2G to 4G in the next three years adding 400 million more mobile
internet users. China has over a trillion USD worth internet economy.
“Indians are using the internet to buy everything from provisions to electronic gadgets. India has 19
million credit card users, while the number of debit card holders is 350 million. The value of
electronic transactions using credit cards is disproportionately large 21% of all transactions
compared with about 32% through debit cards, The balance is through internet banking, mobile
wallets and prepaid cash card”-Internet and Mobile Association.

Exhibit No.9: Growth of Indian Online retail Market

Online Retail Market

40000
30000
20000
10000
0

Closing thought
Indian e-commerce market is distinct that it has a large illiterate population, risk-averse consumer
behaviour and difficulty in tracing postal addresses that challenges delivery system, especially in
semi-urban and rural areas. Additionally, consumers here are found to be wary of the quality and
after-sale. But, this trend is fast transforming with increasing penetration of mobile and internet in
semi-urban and rural areas. In order to realize the true potential of the E-commerce all the
stakeholders including Banks, Aggregators and online merchants need to contribute in building a
conducive environment. All e-commerce companies, be it small or large understand the importance
of going mobile and started offering mobile commerce solutions to their customers. M-commerce
to contribute up to 70% of online shopping in India: experts '70% of e-commerce sales to soon
come via smartphones' - The Times of India. The intrusion of information communication
technology in our lives has changed our life completely. The whole world is coming closer. The
mobile commerce is the future of globalization. The Issues in mobile commerce are numerous.
Only a few are discussed here. The complication arises due to mobile commerce need newer cyber
laws. Corporate good governance is evolutionary in nature. Hence, Mobile commerce is just
towards the stage of corporate good governance. The paradigm shift from management to
governance is taken ahead by the Mobile commerce.

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Vol. 4, Issue 1, January 2015

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