The Growing Pains of Indian E-Commerce

Abstract

Running a successful e-commerce business can be very rewarding, yet challenging at the same time. Even if you sell a great product, it can become difficult to get the word out about your business if you don’t have a well-designed website or marketing strategy. Despite the challenges of running an online business, there are still many opportunities available. In 2013, e-commerce retail sales were at $263.3 billion. These sales are projected to grow to $434.2 billion in 2017. This is why online retailers need to address their challenges now so they can become successful in the future. Capturing India’s rapidly growing e-commerce market has been a holy grail of tech entrepreneurs for years.India is a country with a booming economy, rapid growth of internet penetration, and a market of 1.2 billion.  It’s also a place where consumers have a lot to gain from not going to the stores.  A shopping trip can mean being packed into trains like sardines, navigating streets jammed with stalls and cow herds, or haggling with aggressive rickshaw drivers. The city centers are chaotic, and the contents of a shopping list are distributed over dozens of different stores or street stands. It seemed the perfect place to build a robust online economy.