Online shopping is the smartest innovation in the field of marketing/shopping.

It

entered India slowly and become the trend within very less time and now it is the

most preferred way of shopping. With the increase in the no. of customers at a very

high rate in recent past years, the online customers have also showed a very high rate

of increment. The recent two years i.e. 2020 and 2021 have kicked up the e-commerce

sales to the biggest records, due to Covid-10 pandemic. The pandemic leads to

lockdown and shutting down of physical stores/ brick and mortar stores, social

distancing etc., as the measures of safety and also the means of weapon to fight the

most dangerous calamity.

The shutting down of the stores moved the people towards online shopping. Online

shopping had come up with the new challenging role due to Covid-19. The companies

took the advantage of situation and became able to make their customers and top

capture the bigger share in the market. People also get attracted towards it easily, as it

provided home delivery of products or no contact delivery, because safety, health and

hygiene are the most important factors to be maintained to get stay away from the

killer virus.

The present study throws light on Covid-19 pandemic and online shopping position

through the real facts regarding the situation in the country. Following are the

scenarios of recent two years in the country regarding online shopping i.e., 2020 and

2021.

4.1. SCENARIO IN 2020-21

With the starting of the year 2020, the Corona virus entered India and the country

faced lockdown from since March, 2020 totally to June, 2020 and after that with some

exceptions and necessary guidelines it started to open slowly. But, till this time

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Corona virus succeeded in creating its extreme fear among the people. The reason was

that it spreads very fast and easily with contacting each other and cause to death in

very less time. At the same time, India became the eighth largest market in

ecommerce sector in 2020, with the revenue of US $50 billion. The revenues for e-

commerce companies tend to increase with the emergence of new markets and

increment in the potential of existing markets for future development. In 2020, the e-

commerce market of India contributed to the worldwide growth rate of 29% with an

increase of 51 %.1

So, this innovation in business in the form of ecommerce/ online shopping played a

crucial role in fulfilling these necessities of life for survival in that pandemic situation.

No doubt the pandemic accelerated the ecommerce growth and shifted the consumers

towards a more digital world and with changing in their purchasing habits and

behaviours for long term2.

The digital economy enjoyed boom due to covid-19 pandemic which forced social

distancing among people and made them to move towards online shopping more than

ever before. About 67% of the consumers reported that they adopted online shopping

due to covid-193.

Top 10 online shopping websites in 2020-214

1. Amazon.com
2. Ajio.com
3. Bigbasket.com
4. Jiomart.com
5. Reliancedigital.in
6. Amazon.com
7. Nykaa.com
8. Apple.com

89
 9. Cilory.com
10. Dell.com

According to the annual report of Amazon.in 4,152 sellers surpassed Rs.1 crore in

terms of sales and around 29% growth was shown by its „crorepati‟ sellers year-on-

year (YOY). During covid-19 1.5 lakh sellers joined Amazon in 2020. It also became

the biggest marketplace with 85% YOY sales and more than 70,000 exporters on

Amazon Global selling, said Jeff Bezos.

The report also revealed that the women entrepreneurs also marked 15% growth in

their businesses, while weavers and artisans met with 2.8% growth. In terms of

highest sellers Delhi had more 1.1 lakh followed by Maharashtra with 87,000 and

79,000 in Gujarat5.

4.2. SCENARIO OF ONLINE SHOPPING IN 2021-22

Undoubtedly, covid-19 pandemic had stepped up the pace of development of online

shopping companies at a high growth rate and also changed the buying behaviour and

habits of the customers since it arrived India (2020). After the ending of year 2020 on

a normal term, another wave of corona virus entered India in April, 2021 and uproar

the whole country with severe destruction of lives of people, their businesses, their

jobs etc. It proved to be much more disastrous compared to year 2020. Again the

country went through lock-down, social distancing, shutting down of markets,

physical stores, offices, institutions etc, and the lives of people again came in danger

and fear due to lack of sources of income resulting in lack of food, safety and security

of health. This time the number of deaths broke the records of previous year,

especially in India. The condition was very severe this time. People were not getting

proper medical facilities due to lack of proper arrangements and more patients than

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hospitals and doctors. Even doctors were also in its fear and many died too while

treating others. Many died due to severity of the disease, some died due to lack of

treatment on time, some died due to lack of money of treatment, some died due to

burden of hospital bills etc. It really was the killer wave experienced this time. Overall

situation was hazardous, nobody wanted to see or even imagine about it in dreams

also. Those who are alive and safe are only by Almighty‟s blessings.

Seeing the trend in year 2020, people get aware about the change in market trends

after the pandemic specially. Many lost their jobs and businesses in 2020, but at the

same time the people who acted cleverly opted for moving towards online business.

This was one of the most intelligent moves to survive in situation like Covid-19, when

markets face shut down and people got afraid to move out for purchasing the

necessary products. This moved people strongly towards digital world more, whether

directly or indirectly. In fact being digital was the need of the hour and a social

obligation too for the people. There is no harm in being digital, as we already are

living in a digitalised world. So, if we don‟t adopt it, we will lag behind.

Over the last two years especially, the ecommerce has become the vital part of the

Global market. Like other industries, retail sector also get transformed into more

digital way due to the advancement in technology and increasing number of internet

and social media users. This leads to the increment in the number of online buyers

with each passing year. Over 2 billion people bought products and services online and

e-retail sales crossed 4.2 trillion US $ worldwide in 2020 and expected to grow more

in 2021 and so on6.

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The Growing Importance of E-commerce due to Covid-19 in 2021-22
The pandemic leads to the expansion in growth of online shopping in the world. In

India also it contributed towards becoming more digital and developed. The pandemic

has exploded the trend of online shopping much more seriously than ever before.

When traditional shopping becomes difficult and even more fearful, people went to

visit online market for buying. Following are some of the factors which inspired them

to continue online shopping in future too:

 Changed shopping habits- Due to social distancing and fear of spreading the

disease, the shopping habits of the people got changed. People get addicted to

online shopping, its enormous benefits and comfort; it can‟t be changed or

dropped so easily.

 Fear of Covid-19- The Covid-19 pandemic created extreme fear among the

people. They feel unsafe even after it ends and went to online stores. People

will be more cautious and even they will prefer shopping online due to safety

of health and hygiene purposes.

 Easier ways of Online Shopping- The online shopping companies are

working each second their best to make it easier for people to use online

shopping mode through easily navigated applications. Mobile phones made it

much easier to shop online from anywhere and anytime without involving a

laptop or pc.

 Scarcity of Items at Physical Stores- This may be one of the prime reasons

forcing people towards online shopping. People have choices to fulfil their

needs and wants of products and services through online stores, if not found or

stocked out at physical stores7.

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Latest Ecommerce Trends Leading It Ahead
Ecommerce sector is progressing at a very speedy rate specially after Covid-19.

Following are some of the trends that prove to be leading ways for online shopping8:

 Enhancement of online shopping experience through Augmented Reality (AR)

feature.

 Voice search function breaks the language and literacy barriers too.

 Artificial Intelligence (AI) assists shops to grasp useful information about

users.

 Most importantly bigger amount of data provides personalised experiences to

customers.

 Another smart option of chatbots helps the customers with better experience.

 Most preferred option is mobile shopping which is handy to customers and

they become used to it very quickly and easily.

 Various payment options also attract more customers towards it.

 Subscriptions and memberships plays vital role in retaining back the

customers.

 Assisting videos also lessen the doubts and queries through explaining its uses,

applications with precautions and warning etc.

 Sustainability is the most crucial factor of consideration.

Top online shopping sites in 2021-22

Following are the top 10 online shopping sites in 2021-22 in India9:

1. Amazon.in
2. Flipkart.com
3. Myntra.com
4. Tatacliq.com

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 5. Jiomart.com
6. Ajio.com
7. Pepperfry.com
8. Snapdeal.com
9. PaytmMall.com
10. Shopclues.com

Top Online Selling Products in 2021

The Online shopping sites has transformed themselves with a variety of products full

of advanced features till now, since its beginning. The change is absolute and can be

seen easily by anyone. Earlier these started with selling of books, ticket reservation,

then to clothing & accessories to food-groceries and medicines as of now and keep on

entering in different sectors too. Following are the top products to be preferred and

purchased by the customer online10:

 Clothing & Apparels

 Consumer Electronics
 Footwear
 Health & Beauty Supplements
 Jewellery
 Games & Books
 Sporting Goods
 Pet Supplies
 Food & Groceries
 Tools & Home Decor
 Luxury Goods

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 Table No. 4.1

Top Online Selling Products in 2021

Product Categories Percentage

Clothing & Apparels 69 %
Consumer Electronics 67%
Footwear 63%
Health & Beauty Supplements 38%
Jewellery 30%
Games & Books 28%
Sports Goods 20%
Pet Supplies 20%
Food and Groceries 20%
Tools & Home Goods 18%
Luxury Goods 6%
(Source: https://www.google.com/top-online-selling-productsin2021/)

Clothing & apparels are always the most favourite products to be purchased through

online websites. This is not wrong to say that fashion industry enjoys number one

preference of customers in all years. During and after pandemic also it is on the first

place due to which there arises boom in fashion industry. There are many reasons of

getting attracted towards online fashion sites such as latest stock of clothes &

apparels, variety of products, budget buys, various brands at one place (national and

international both), different sizes, colours and patterns and many more. Specially,

women get attracted more towards clothing & apparels comparing to men. Amazon,

Flipkart, Myntra, Ajio, etc., are the best brands for clothing. Electronics & gadgets are

the most preferred products to be bought online after clothing by the customers. The

sites which offers best and smart electronics such as mobile phones, laptops, etc, are

Amazon, Flipkart, Xiaomi, Redmi, Realme, Apple.,etc, at different discounts and

deals.

95
According to a report by Unicommerce- The online fashion industry showed the

growth of 45% in the financial year 2020-2021 in comparison with previous year.11

Festive season sale of online sites

Ecommerce companies earning season are the sale season whether festive

seasons or year-end season etc. These are the form of strategies in the

form of sales such as The Great Indian Festival by Amazon, Big Billion

Days by Flipkart, end of season sales by other sites, month-end sales, etc.,

to attract more customers and increase their sales too. During these days,

the ecommerce companies earn more revenues than whole year. People

also eagerly wait for these sale days because they offer handsome deals

and discounts on various products and brands. Both buyers and sellers

shop and sell more and more these days.

According to the Easy Ecom report, the total e-commerce sales for the

year 2021 are estimated to grow ranging from $67-$84 billion, marking a

significant increase compared to previous year (2020). This has been

expected after analysing the previous years and also following the

consistent upward trend for the last few years. Despite lock-down the

growth has been continuous and expected that online will grow 32-68%

during this festive season.12

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4.3. E-COMMERCE SALES BY COUNTRY (2021-22)

Table No. 4.2

E-Commerce Sales by Country (2021-22)
Countries E-commerce Sales (in Billion
U. S. Dollars)
China 2779.31
U.S. 843.15
U.K. 169.02
Japan 144.08
South Korea 120.56
Germany 101.51
France 80.00
India 67.53
Canada 44.12
Spain 37.12

(Source: https://www.shopify.in/enterprise/global-ecommerce-statistics)

The Diwali Sale 2021 went across 1.25 lakh trillion sales. The online shoppers

throughout the country purchased products online, despite inflation. This helped the

online retailers to get stand up who faced slowdown during last two years. This also

made them optimistic and built the sense of confidence for future too. Now the end of

the current year (2021) has another opportunity for them to make more revenues and

profits with arrival of wedding season, Christmas, and New Year too, disclosed by

CAIT (Confederation of All India Traders).13

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 Table No. 4.3

Diwali Festive Retail Sales in India (2021)

Year Diwali Festive Retail Sales in India

(2021)(in crore rupees)
2016 35,000
2017 43,000
2018 50,000
2019 60,000
2020 72,000
2021 1,25,000
(Source: www.business-standard.com)

Another report by Redseer Consulting, informed that various ecommerce firms

participated in the first week of online festival sales in October 2021 and experienced

23% YOY sales growth, which means the goods costing Rs.32,000 crore ($4.6

million) were sold through online mode. It also claimed that Flipkart emerged with

64% market share as the leader of the market.

Advantage of Ecommerce Industry in India in 2021

India is one of the biggest ecommerce industries in the world with its continuous

growth and development. It succeeded in capturing biggest market in India too. The

increased no. of internet users at large by each passing year, technological

advancements in lifestyles, busy working schedules, etc., has made it possible and of

course the recent two years of Covid-19 also contributed towards its success. At

present in 2021 how it benefitted the country and what more it has expected for

coming years is disclosed by a report as follows:

 Growing Demand- Personal Care, Beauty &Wellness (PCB&W) became the

largest beneficiary contributing towards the increase in order volume by 36%

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 in the last quarter of 2020 in India. In July, 2020 the country owned 784.59

million internet users taking ecommerce industry to the greater heights.

 Attractive Opportunities- the country has expected higher opportunities of

growth in 2021 despite of depressed spending by the customers. The online

grocery, e-pharmacy and social commerce presents the bigger opportunities

for growth and success in 2021.

 Policy Support- the new policy in the country allowed 100% FDI in B2B

ecommerce. The marketplace model of ecommerce was also permitted 100%

FDI under the automatic route.

 Increasing Investments- the digital literacy is one of the important reasons

forcing people to make investments in ecommerce firms and to shift the old

methods of operations to new and innovative ones.14

4.4. PROFILE OF MOST POPULAR ONLINE SHOPPING

COMPANIES IN INDIA
1. Flipkart

(Source: https://www.freepnglogos.com/pics/flipkart-logo)

Established 2007
Establisher Sachin Bansal and BinnyBansal
Headquarters Bangalore, Karnataka ( India), and Singapore
Industry E-commerce
Type of Company Private (Subsidiary)
Services Available India
Presently Owned (%) Walmart (82.1%), Tencent (5.1%), Tiger
Global (4.87%), BinnyBansal (3.25%),
Microsoft (1.46%), QIA (1.43%), Accel
(1.32%), Other (0.47%).

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 No. of Employees 30,000
No. of Customers/Users Over 100 million users
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flipkart)

2. Amazon

(Source: https://1000logos.net/amazon-logo/)

Established 1994
Establisher Jeff Bezos
Headquarters Hyderabad (India), Seattle, Washington
(U.S.)
Industry Cloud Computing, E-commerce, Artificial
Intelligence, Consumer Electronics,
Entertainment, Digital Distribution, Self-
driving cars, Supermarket
Type of Company Public
Services Available Worldwide
Presently Owned (%) Jeff Bezos (14% voting power and 10.6%
economic interest)
No. of Employees 14,68,000
No. of Customers/Users Over 200 million users
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_(company))

3. Snapdeal

(Source: indiaretailing.com/2016/09/12/retail/snapdeal-undergoes-brand-makeover-unveils-new-logo-
tagline/)

Established 2010
Establisher KunalBahl and RohitBansal
Headquarters New Delhi, India
Industry E-commerce
Type of Company Private
Services Available India
Presently Owned (%) KunalBahl and RohitBansal
No. of Employees 500-1,000
No. of Customers/Users 50 m users
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapdeal)

4. Shopclues

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 (Source: https://bazaar.shopclues.com/brand-guidelines.html)

Established 2011
Establisher Sanjay Sethi
Headquarters Gurgaon, Haryana (India)
Industry E-commerce
Type of Company Private
Services Available India
Presently Owned (%) Sanjay Sethi
No. of Employees 1,000-5,000
No. of Customers/Users N/A
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShopClues)

5. Ebay

(Source: https://www.ebay.com/)

Established 1995
Establisher Pierre Omidyar
Headquarters Mumbai, Maharashtra (India), San Jose
California (U.S.)
Industry E-commerce
Type of Company Public
Services Available Worldwide
Presently Owned (%) Pierre Omidyar
No. of Employees 13,300 (2019)
No. of 187 million (worldwide) and 5 million
Customers/Users (India)
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBay)

6. Nykaa

(Source: https://www.nykaa.com/)

Established 2012
Establisher FalguniNayar
Headquarters Mumbai, Maharashtra (India)

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 Industry E-commerce, Cosmetics, Retail
Type of Company Public
Services Available India
Presently Owned (%) FalguniNayar
No. of Employees More than 2,000
No. of Customers/Users 15 million
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nykaa)

7. Paytm

(Source: https://paytm.com/)

Established 2010
Establisher Vijay Shekhar Sharma
Headquarters Noida, Uttar Pradesh (India)
Industry Financial Technology and E-commerce
Type of Company Public
Services Available India, Canada and Japan
Presently Owned (%) Vijay Shekhar Sharma (14.67%), Ant Group
(29.71%), Softbank Vision Fund (19.63%),
SAIF Partners (18.56%), Alibaba Group
(7.18%), Berkshire Hathaway (2.76%),
Others (7.49%).
No. of Employees More than 10,000.
No. of Customers/Users 450 million
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paytm)

8. Indiamart

(Source: https://www.indiamart.com/)

Established 1996
Establisher Dinesh Agarwal and BrijeshAgarwal
Headquarters Noida, Uttar Pradesh (India)
Industry Internet Marketing and B2B
Marketplace
Type of Company Public
Services Available India
Presently Owned (%) Dinesh Agarwal
No. of Employees 3,049
No. of Over 119 billion
Customers/Users

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 (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IndiaMART)

9. Reliance Retail

(Source: https://relianceretail.com/)

Established 2006
Establisher MukeshAmbani
Headquarters Mumbai, Maharashtra (India)
Industry Retail
Type of Company Subsidiary and Public
Services Available India
Presently Owned (%) Reliance Industries Ltd. (85.12%),
Vanishree Commercials (4.7%),
InfotelInfocomm (0.6%), Sovereign Wealth
Funds (5.86%), Private Equity Firms
(4.32%).
No. of Employees More than 1,39,000
No. of Customers/Users 150 million
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliance_Retail)

10. Myntra

(Source: https://www.myntra.com/)

Established 2007
Establisher MukeshBansal, VineetSaxena,
AshutoshLawania,
Headquarters Bangalore (India)
Industry E-commerce
Type of Company Private
Services Available India
Presently Owned (%) Flipkart
No. of Employees 1,000-5,000
No. of 50 million
Customers/Users
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myntra)

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Annual Revenue (Sales in Billions) of Online Retailer Companies (2015-2022)

There is no doubt that online retailer companies are earning handsome revenues
each year which leads them to the greater heights. Mostly an increasing trend can be
seen in the annual revenues of different popular e-commerce companies especially
like Flipkart, Amazon, Shopclues, Nykaa, Myntra, Paytm, Reliance Retail, etc., and
many more. Firstly talking about flipkartas the leading e-commerce giant has grown
from 28.4 to 346.1 billion dollars in last 7 years from 2015-2022, representing the
highest growing e-commerce company competing with worldwide e-commerce giants
Amazon, Alibaba, Ebay etc. Secondly, Amazon is also showing the upward trend in
its annual revenues worldwide i.e., 88.9 billion dollars to 386 billion dollars
comprising 2015-2022 making it another e-commerce giant enjoying third position
worldwide. Snapdeal has also shown the increase in its annual revenues since 2015 to
2017 but after that it started decreasing to 9.03 billion to 5.35 billion in 2018-2019
again in 2020 it made it stand up with great zeal and started increasing again 9.25
billion with slight decrease to 9.16 in 2021. Then comes, Shopclues showing a good
increase from 0.316 billion to 2.73 billion during 2015-2019, after that it went to slow
down in 2020 and 2021 i.e., from 2.09 billion to 0.97. Another e-commerce company
popular worldwide is ebay which has shown increasingly high trends since 2015 till
2021 from 8.79 billion dollars to 10.271 billion dollars, making its position secure
worldwide.

Recently another e-commerce retailer which has went to greater heights is Nykaa
which went to 18.6 billion in 2021 from 2.14 billion in 2018, in just last three years it
has grown around 11.51 % showing a good indicator of performance. Paytm has also
shown nice growth with 2.10 billion annual sales to 33.92 billion from 2015-2020.
While in 2021 it slightly slows down to 33.50 billion comparing with previous year.
Another e-retailer which has shown the upward increasing trend is Indiamart which
has brought up its annual sales to 6.65 billion from 2 billion in last seven years till
2021. Reliance Retail has given the exemplary performance with 1629.36 billion
annual sales in 2021 which is comparably very high with 145.56 billion in 2015,
which is approximately 9 % growth in last 7 years. The growth of Myntra cannot be
underestimated which has shown the increment of 24.84% i.e., 17.19 billion in 2021
from 4.27 billion in 2015, which has made it the India‟s leading fashion and e-

104
commerce brand. Similarly, these companies have given exemplary increased values
in terms of revenues in year 2022 i.e., 443 billion and 469.82 billion by Flipkart and
Amazon respectively. Ebay earned 10.42 billion dollars in 2022 as its revenue. Nykaa
went upto 22.05 billion, while, Paytm and Indiamart shown 28.02 and 6.70 billion as
their revenues from operations. Reliance Retail has done a tremendously
commendable job by earning 1997.04 billion rupees as its revenues and contributed in
the country‟s GDP too. Lastly, Myntra also succeeded in reaching 24.66 billion
rupees as its revenues and being a top fashion brand online retailer too, as shown in
Table no.4.4.

Most of the companies have also shown a tremendous growth in their revenues
including Flipkart, Amazon, Reliance Retail and Myntra, while Ebay, Nykaa,
Indiamart have also shown but with low rate (refer Table No. 4.4). This indicates
brightest future of the online retailer companies.

Table No. 4.4

Annual Revenue (Sales in billions) of Online Retailer Companies from 2015-2022

Online 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Retailer
Companies
Flipkart $28.4 95.3 131.7 155.6 216.5 436.15 346.1 443
Amazon $88.9 $107 $135.9 $177.8 $232.8 $280.5 $386 469.82
Snapdeal 1.682 9.377 14.57 9.03 5.359 9.253 9.16 4.71
Shopclues 0.316 0.792 1.79 1.614 2.73 2.0946 0.9713 N/A
Ebay $8.790 $8.592 $9.298 $9.927 $8.650 $8.636 $10.271 10.42
Nykaa N/A N/A N/A 2.14 5.7 12 18.6 22.05
Paytm 2.10 3.37 N/A 7.65 32.34 33.92 33.50 28.02
Indiamart 2.00 N/A 3.182 4.035 4.97 6.23 6.65 6.70
Reliance 145.56 176.4 210.75 337.65 691.98 1305.66 1629.36 1997.04
Retail
Myntra 4.27 7.58 10.69 20 4.27 10.41 17.19 24.66
(Source: Google.com and Statista.com)
Note: N/A- Not Available

Different Categories of Products Offered by Online Retailer Companies

Technology has made it shopping very easy and convenient through online feature of

shopping. People can purchase goods and avail services sitting anywhere they want. It

has become possible through online mode of shopping/ e-shopping. Online shopping

is the most trendy and enjoyable mode of shopping where one can buy whatever he

105
 wants or need anytime and anywhere. Another important feature of online mode is

that it is not limited to clothing or beauty products only, it has broad category of

products to be offered such as electronics and home appliances, mobiles and gadgets,

sports and toys, footwear, books and accessories, medical and health supplements,

home furnishing and decor and many more. With products, services can also be

availed through online mode such as medical consultant, tutor, beauty expert,

mechanics, plumber, food and groceries. Many e-commerce companies provide

various services direct at home, such as Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, Shopclues,

Ebay, Paytm, Indiamart, Netmeds, Pharmeasy etc. This smartest mode of shopping

has benefited the customers in enormous ways and made their life stress free and

blissful. (Table No.4.5)

Table No. 4.5

Different Categories of Products Offered by Online Retailer Companies

Online Electronics Mobiles Clothes Sports Footwear Beauty Books & Others
Retailer & Home & Toys Care Accessories
Companies Appliances

Flipkart        
Amazon        
Snapdeal        
Shopclues        
Ebay        
Nykaa  ×  ×   × 
Paytm        
Indiamart        
Reliance × ×  ×   × 
Retail
Myntra × ×  ×   × 

Annual Profits & Losses (in Billions) of Online Retailer Companies (2015-2022)
Every business enterprise whether offline or online, has been established with the

main motive of earning profit with customer satisfaction. Both are complementary to

each other and necessary to be achieved together for the survival, growth,

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 development and success etc. Profit plays many important roles in an enterprise such

as it is needed from survival to expansion of the business. Profit and Loss are the two

aspects of a coin, it is not mandatory that a firm will always earn profit; it may also

incur loss due to different reasons.

E-commerce companies are also making handsome profits with their increasing

demand resulting in high revenues.

Table No. 4.6

Annual Profits & Losses (in Billions) of Online Retailer Companies (2015-2022)
Online 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Retailer
Companies
Flipkart -4.0036 -8.267 -5.445 -2.447 -20.648 -38.253 -19.366 -24

Amazon -$0.241 0.596 2.371 3.033 10.073 11.588 21.331 33.36

Snapdeal 1.7 7.4 0.872 N/A 1.5 -1.86 -2.74 -1.2544

Shopclues -0.382 -1.014 N/A -3.47 -2.08 -0.685 -0.515 N/A

Ebay -$0.865 $1.94 $7.28 $-1.013 $2.530 $1.786 $5.667 $13.608

Nykaa N/A N/A N/A -Rs.0.026 -Rs.0.011 -Rs.0.167 -Rs.0.238 Rs.0.3619

Paytm 0.050 -3.720 -15.49 -8.79 -14.90 -39.59 -28.34 -17.01

Indiamart N/A N/A 0.430 -0.724 0.126 1.462 2.867 3.098

Reliance 224.93 235.66 276.30 299.01 360.75 31.40 55.27 70.55

Retail
Myntra -1.73 -7.40 -8.16 -6.55 -3.46 -11.65 -8.74 -4.29

(Source: Annual Reports of Companies and Google.com)

Note: (-) sign indicates loss

Market Value of Online Retailer Companies (2021 And 2022)

Market value is the value of any product or company or anything which determines its

demand by the consumer in monetary terms. It increases with increase in its demand

resulting in revenues and then profit and consumer satisfaction. With increase in

popularity of internet and its users, e-commerce customers also increased with rapid

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growth, which is also the major reason of high market value of e-tailers. There are

many famous e-commerce companies having very high market values in trillions at

present including Alibaba, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon etc. In Indian e-commerce

companies Flipkart has the highest market value of $37.8 billion which is gives strong

competition to worldwide e-commerce giant Amazon. Amazon has its market value of

$1.634 trillion in 2021 and went to $1.719 trillion till 2022, becoming world‟s third

largest e-commerce company. Ebay is another worldwide e-commerce company

having $34.63 billion of market value in 2021 as shown in table no.4.7.

Another successful online retailer in India is the subsidiary of Reliance Industries i.e.,
Reliance Retail having $238.95 billion market value in 2021 which is at greater
heights. Paytm has achieved well importance in past recent years and made its market
value $16 billion. After that Nykaa has become the fastest growing e-tailer and
succeeded in building its name in very less time.

Table No. 4.7

Market Value of Online Retailer Companies (2021 and 2022)

Online Retailer Market Value (2021) Market Value (2022)

Companies
Flipkart $37.8 billion $40-50 billion

Amazon $1.634 trillion $1.746 trillion

Snapdeal $800m-1.2 billion 1.5-1.7 billion

Shopclues $1 billion $1.1 billion

Ebay $34.63 billion $43.29 billion

Nykaa $11 billion $13 billion

Paytm $16 billion $11.2 billion

Indiamart $2.92 billion N/A

Reliance Retail $238.95 billion $183.48 billion

Myntra $2 billion N/A

(Source: www.wikipedia.com and google.com)

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 Competitors of Online Retailer Companies
E-commerce sector has become the highest grossing business sectors in India. It was
growing at good speed from last 5-10 years but last two years of pandemic has kicked
up its growth to major heights. This has made online shopping the most trending,
convenient and enjoyable activity for the customers and sellers too. India has the
biggest market for online sale of products and services worldwide. With its enormous
use and benefits both buyers and sellers are attracting towards it. Many firms are
competing with each other to prove themselves and many are in race to give better
performance. Flipkart and Amazon are the strongest competitors of each other in
India. Flipkart also has some other competitors such as Paytm, Myntra, Ebay and
international competitors Alibaba too. Amazon is the biggest competitors worldwide
with Alibaba, Walmart, Flipkart, Rakuten, Otto etc. Other companies including
Snapdeal, Myntra, Shopclues, ebay, Nykaa, Indiamart, Paytm and Reliance Retail etc
also have strong competitors of each other and many others such as Infibeam, Quikr,
Yepme, Olx, Mamaearth, TradeIndia, Tatacliq, Dmart etc., respectively. This shows
the level of competition among e-commerce companies in India with national and
international firms.
Table No. 4.8
Competitors of Online Retailer Companies

Online Retailer Companies Their Competitors

Flipkart Amazon, Snapdeal, Alibaba, Paytm, Myntra, Shopclues, Ebay, Etsy etc.

Amazon Walmart, Alibaba, Ebay, Flipkart, Rakuten, Otto, JD, Netflix etc.

Snapdeal Amazon, Myntra, Flipkart, Quikr, Shopclues, Infibeam, Yebhi etc.

Shopclues Snapdeal, Gmarket, Daraz, Homeshop18, Infibeam,Flipkart, Yepme etc.

Ebay Amazon, Etsy, Alibaba, Flipkart, Walmart, ebid, Newegg, Olxetc

Nykaa Sephora, Myntra, Stylecraze, Mamaearth, Purplle, Makeup & Beauty etc.

Paytm Indiamart, Tatacliq, Snapdeal, Croma, Shopclues, Olist, Cafepress, etc.

Indiamart TradeIndia, Alibaba India. Exporters India, Udaan, etc.

Reliance Retail Dmart, Amazon, Flipkart, Subhiksha, RPG Group, Future Group, Star
India Bazaar
Myntra HSN, Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Limeroad, Voonik, Yepme, Zopper,
etc.
(Source: www.wikipedia.com and google.com)

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 Table No. 4.9

Sellers/Suppliers to Online Retailer Companies

Online Retailer Companies Total No. of No. of stores

Sellers/Suppliers
Flipkart 4.2 lakh 5,000
Amazon 6.4 million 89 (589)
Snapdeal 3,00,000 No Store
Shopclues 7,00,000 No Store
Ebay 25 million No Store
Nykaa N/A 84
Paytm 21.1 million No Store
Indiamart 6.5 million No Store
Reliance Retail N/A 12,000
Myntra N/A 100
(Source: www.google.comand economictimes.indiatimes.com)

Parent & Subsidiary Companies of Online Retailer Companies

In India, there are many e-commerce companies offering varieties of products in

different categories and for different groups of people too. India has become the hub

of online shopping and specially after Covid-19 pandemic, its growth went higher

comparing to pre-covid years. Even this pandemic has turned many offline retailers to

online retailers to shift their businesses for survival and growth. People are investing

in e-commerce sector more than earlier due to its trend and success and a preventive

measure from pandemic too. This has given birth to high competition among various

e-commerce companies. Flipkart and Amazon are the giant e-commerce companies at

present in India. They both has many subsidiaries also including Myntra, PhonePe,

Ekart, Jeeves, Cleartrip and Amazon Air, Amazon, Fresh, Amazon.com, Amazon

Games, Amazon Studios, etc., respectively. Walmart is the parent company of

Flipkart while Amazon itself is the parent company having many subsidiaries.

Myntra itself has become the leading fashion destination in India having Flipkart its
parent company and Fitiquette & Roadster as its subsidiary companies. Snapdeal is
also one of the popular online shopping companies owned by Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd.
with no subsidiary. Ebay is also another e-commerce giant serving worldwide and

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well-known by Indian customers too. It has Auction Co., iBazar, GittiGidiyor,
GMarket, Half.com, Qoo10.jp its subsidiary companies. Another company having
many subsidiaries including Reliance Fresh, Reliance Digital, Reliance Footprint,
Justdial, Hamleys, Jiomart, Ajio, Fynd, Urban Ladder, Netmeds, and C-Square is
owned by Reliance Industries with company name Reliance Retail. This is another
famous e-commerce retailer company in India. This clearly indicates the success and
growth of e-commerce sector with other sectors too. (Table No. 4.10)

Table No. 4.10

Parent & Subsidiary Companies of Online Retailer Companies
Online Retailer Parent Company Subsidiary Company
Companies
Flipkart Walmart Myntra, PhonePe, Ekart, Jeeves,
Cleartrip
Amazon Amazon A9.com, AbeBooks, Alexa internet,
Amazon.com, Amazon Air, Amazon
Books, Amazon Fresh, Amazon
Games, Amazon Lab 126, Amazon
Logistics, Amazon Pharmacy,
Amazon Publishing, Amazon
Robotics, Amazon Studios, AWS,
Audible, Body Labs, Book
Depository, ComiXology, Digital
Photography, Review, Eero LLC,
Goodreads, Graphiq, IMDb, MGM
holdings(sale pending),Pill Pack,
Ring, Souq.com, Twitch Interactive,
Whole Foods, Market, Woot,
Zappos, Zoos.
Snapdeal Jasper InfotechPvt. Ltd. -
Shopclues Clues Network Pvt. Ltd. -
Ebay Ebay Auction Co., iBazar, GittiGidiyor,
GMarket, Half.com, Qoo10.jp
Nykaa FSN E-Commerce Ventures -
Ltd
PaytmMall One97Commflipkartunications -
Ltd
Indiamart IndiaMARTInterMESH Ltd. Tolexo, 10times.com
Reliance Retail Reliance Industries Ltd. Reliance Fresh, Reliance Digital,
Reliance Footprint, Justdial,
Hamleys, Jiomart, Ajio, Fynd, Urban
Ladder, Netmeds, C-Square
Myntra Flipkart Fitiquette, Roadster,
(Source: www.wikipedia.com and google.com)

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4.5 ONLINE RETAIL SPENDING IN INDIA (2015-2022)
In India, e-commerce has enormous potential. According to Goldman

Sachs, India's e-commerce business would be worth $300 billion by

2030, accounting for 2.5 percent of the country's GDP.

According to Walmart, total retail would increase at a CAGR of roughly

9% between FY18 and FY23, while the e-commerce sector in India will

grow at a CAGR of around 36%. This will gradually raise the penetration

of Indian e-commerce from 2.1 percent in 2017-18 to roughly 6.2 percent

in 2022-23.

The concept of shopping anything, anywhere, at any time has boosted

India's e-commerce business. Technology has had a role in all of this.

According to the Boston Consulting Group, India is anticipated to have

850 million online users by 2025. It also indicated that the number of

internet buyers increased seven-fold between 2014 and 2016. India has

become one of the world's greatest consumer markets as a result of its

rapid growth. Following are the reasons of motivating the Indian buyers

for spending online: (Table No. 4.11)

 Contribution of technology enhanced the purchase

 Wide use of Digital wallets and electronic payments.
 Different festivals and their online sales.
 Indian customers‟ love with bargains.

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  Use of potential spending power of small-town people

Table No. 4.11

Online Retail Spending in India (2015-2022)

Year Online Buyers (in Online Spending in India

million) (in billion dollars)
2015 49.6 12.1

2016 67.5 22.7

2017 90.1 35.2

2018 116.3 48.9

2019 142.9 62.8

2020 167.8 74.7

2021 190 50

2022* 228 N/A

(Source: https://www.proschoolonline.com/blog/top-5-reasons-why-india-is-a-hot-e-commerce-destination)
Note: (*) sign means expected values

As a result, it may be stated that the global share of online spending has

increased. India is also a significant contributor to electronic spending. Indian

consumers are enthusiastic about internet shopping and are willing to spend a

significant portion of their income on it. People have become more health concerned,

as well as time conscious, which has led them to spend and purchase via the internet.

In fact, given the current situation, it is reasonable to predict that online shopping will

continue to be the preferred method of shopping in the future.

4.6 SCENARIO OF ONLINE SHOPPING IN 2022

The ecommerce sector has been at the forefront of disruption over the past several

years, particularly since the start of the pandemic, and yet is one of the few industries

that experienced great development in a short amount of time.

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India's ecommerce business, estimated at $46.2 billion in 2020, is expected to reach a

staggering $111.40 billion by 2025, largely as a result of seismic changes in consumer

tastes and the development of the internet.

While 2021 saw significant revolutions and developments due to rapid ecommerce

growth that might otherwise lasted a few years, 2020 was the year of upheaval for

businesses throughout the world.

By the end of 2021, it was predicted that there will be more than 2.14 billion people

shopping online, with e-commerce sales accounting up 18.1% of all retail sales

worldwide and 81 percent of consumers conducting online research before making a

purchase.

By the end of 2022, it's anticipated that ecommerce sales will total $5.4 trillion.

Regardless of the statistics, the ecommerce industry as a whole has changed

significantly over the past two years, and new, intriguing patterns are continually

appearing. In light of this, the following e-commerce trends are ones you just must not

miss in 202215.

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