Mumbai: E-commerce in India has witnessed an uptick of 77 per cent between 2020 and 2021 with tier-2, tier-3 cities leading maximum transactions according to a report by conversation media platform Bobble AI.
While the tier-1 cities dominate the fashion festival figures, transactions in tier-2 cities like Jaipur, Guwahati, Lucknow, Kochi, Mysore, and Bhubaneswar are at an all-time high – up 82 per cent over the previous year, found the report based on over 50 million smartphone users’ (in 640+ Indian cities) data.
The findings also show that majority of consumers are between the ages of 26 and 35 accounting for 37 per cent, and between the ages of 18 and 25, accounting for 26 per cent with 72 per cent males and 28 per cent females.
Beauty and fashion lead e-ecom in India
Beauty e-commerce apps usage grew by 64 per cent, whereas fashion e-commerce grew by 368 per cent over the past year. The festive period has only led the two e-commerce domains to skyrocket, with at least two transactions completed by shopaholics during the fashion festivals.
Competition heating up with new players
As per the report, India’s fashion e-commerce industry has transformed from ‘Monopoly’ to ‘Ludo.’ Fashion giant Myntra faced tough competition from its competitive counterparts, Meesho, Ajio, and TataCliq. While almost 46 per cent of all transactions belonged to Myntra during the 2020 festive period, Ajio bagged around 69 per cent of all transactions in 2021. The share of Myntra’s active users, also using Meesho, Ajio, and TataCliq has also increased significantly, indicating how users are exploring multiple options this year.
The battle of the e-commerce legends, Amazon, and Flipkart is also worth noting, with Flipkart’s active user base rising 83 per cent in 2021 online shopping festival compared to Amazon’s 72 per cent. Despite the fact that Flipkart is dominating in terms of engagement metrics like search frequency and active sessions, Amazon is winning in terms of transactions, significantly less average session times.
Apart from fashion e-commerce, interesting insights have also emerged from the beauty e-commerce segment.
Leading players Nykaa and Purplle locked horns this festive season – and Purplle took a piece from Nykaa’s pie. In light of Nykaa’s IPO, let’s look at their market share against Purplle, Nykaa’s pure-play fashion e-commerce competitor. Purplle had a 70 per cent growth in active users in the 2021 shopping festival, compared to a 50 per cent increase for Nykaa. With 15 per cent common user base in 2020, Purplle is now standing at 17 per cent in 2021, as per the report.
Hypergrowth on the horizon
The festive season trends point towards healthy and fast-evolving competition in the e-commerce market, which bodes well for customers who are looking for high-quality products at affordable prices.
With the festive season coming to a close, it is exciting to anticipate how the competition will pan out in 2022. With India’s e-commerce market set to reach $120 billion by 2025, the future seems promising. Hypergrowth is definitely on the horizon for the segment, and according to Bobble AI’s findings, brands are poised to capture growth opportunities.
