2017 witnessed a move that proved to be a fillip for the India economy.
Implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on July 1, changed the advent of events in the year 2017, which proved to be positive for the markets as well as the e-commerce space.
The unify taxation structure that was introduced to eliminate unwanted tax hassles, greatly contributed towards a more formalised and structured way of taxation.
With 2018 starting on a positive note, here are some e-commerce companies talking about building a strong platform for short and long term growth:
"2017 was a remarkable year for Grofers. Our sales tripled between February and November 2017. While our average daily order volumes are now at 25,000; a near 200 percent jump from the start of the year, our GMV run rate would be Rs.1000 crore at the close of 2017. We successfully positioned ourselves as a monthly grocery stock-up destination with staples growing five times for us in 2017. Also, starting June this year, we maximized our investment in building the general merchandise category, including a range of kitchen and bathroom utility essentials, plastic ware, cookware, apparels and more. We want to be a one-stop solution for everything our consumers need for their homes, from food FMCG, nonfood FMCG to durables," said co-founder and CEO, Grofers, Albinder Dhindsa.
"Moreover 2017 witnessed the announcement of GST which required pre-planning from our end and we were 100 percent ready. We partnered with major brands and suppliers to stock up extra in order to resolve any availability concerns for the customers. A low supply in offline channels, proved to be a period of online grocery adoption. Post GST, we grew our GMV by 60 percent over the previous quarter. Our new user acquisition rates also increased by near 50 percent in the month after GST implementation," he added.
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"2018 is expected to be a breakout year for the online grocery industry with the convenience benefit fading away and the value benefit coming to the fore," Dhindsa concluded.
Echoeing the same, Head - categories ShopClues, Nitin Kochhar said, "Internet penetration coupled with impetus on digital payment has resulted in growth of e-commerce beyond metropolitan cities. We have witnessed phenomenal growth in our fashion and wired categories. Fashion is certainly the top performing category for with about 50 percent of our orders coming in from the Tier III and Tier IV markets."
"2017 was a year of many forts for us at ShopClues. We launched a series of exclusive labels under fashion, home and decor and the electronics category. This year we reached a six lakh merchant base across 31,500 pin codes in India through our merchant empowerment initiative - Saarthi," he added.
"2018 will be a year where rural will be big. There is immense opportunity in rural, provided there is friendly price points without compromising on quality," Kochhar concluded.
"2017 has been an eventful year for the Indian e-commerce market. There have been some significant policy changes in this year with the aim of improving Ease of Doing Business. The results have been visible with India jumping 30 places this year in the global index," said founder and CEO, IndiaMART.com, Dinesh Agarwal.
"We have a lot of hopes from the coming year as we expect B2B e-commerce to only grow from here. So far this year, B2B e-commerce start-ups have raised a total of USD 196.5 million, the highest since 2010, according to Tracxn. This is highly encouraging because with money flowing in we expect to see some interesting business models which can solve the pertinent problems for B2B businesses like procurement and supplies, logistics and financing," he added.
"I think that in 2018 we are going to witness more of enterprise technology and financial technology. Artificial intelligence will become more mainstream and consumer technology will only improve," Agarwal concluded.