E-Commerce Explosion and Indian Consumer : An Explanatory Study

The term e-commerce was a buzzword once, but today it is a reality. E-commerce has successfully changed the way people conduct their business operations. Today people can shop from anywhere—be it from their work stations or homes, and most importantly, at any time of the day at their leisure. India housed 3,311 e-commerce hubs, 1,267 rural hubs and 2,217 import hubs and 391 export hubs as of January 2013. Everyone has an eye on e-commerce in India, including venture capitalists and private equity firms. This sector is witnessing consolidation owing to various mergers and acquisitions. The growing penetration of technology facilitators, such as Internet connections, broadband, 3G and 4G services, laptops, smartphones, tablets and dongles, has resulted in exponential growth in e-commerce and m-commerce. Over the past two decades, India has seen huge growth in e-commerce ecosystem, including logistics and information technology infrastructure. The website of Indian Railways is an out-and-out success, and financial inclusion has brought plastic money within the reach of common man. The e-commerce business got a boost with the powerful IT Act, comfortable bandwidth and increased awareness. Against this background, an attempt has been made in this paper to discuss phase-wise growth and development of e-commerce in India, evolution of Digital India and e-commerce explosion, growing importance of retail logistics and information technology, future of e-commerce and e-commerce facilitators. Further, it also explains the trends of Internet usage and the role of India in the global market