Online shopping zoomed 83% in 2016: Report

Shopping on dedicated websites accounted for 53% of online spending

The e-commerce revolution has led to the rise of online shopping by 83 per cent in 2016, said a report by leading digital payments firm PayPal and global market research firm Ipsos on Thursday.

"Indian online shoppers spent Rs 58,370 crore on shopping from other countries last year," revealed the third Annual Global Cross-Border Consumer Research 2016 report.

Shopping on dedicated websites accounted for 53 per cent of online spending, 29 per cent through its application and 10 per cent through social media sites.

The report also estimated that cross-border online spending by Indian shoppers would grow a whopping 85 per cent in 2017.

 

"Online spends from domestic and cross border shopping is projected to touch Rs 875,600 crore in 2018, registering 31 per cent year-on-year growth in 2017," it said.

The research report is an evaluation of online and cross-border shopping by 28,000 consumers across 32 nations, including 800 from India.

"The internet has democratised cross border trade. The freelance economy has grown in India," said PayPal India Managing Director Anupam Pahuja in a statement, released along with the research report.

Around 77 per cent of adults think online spending will increase this year.

"Convenience of shopping online emerged as the top reason for the increase (72 per cent) in online spending, 47 per cent by saving and 40 per cent on shipping," pointed out the report.

The report analyses the rationale behind the preferred modes of payment among online shoppers and growth prospects for the Indian e-commerce sector in 2018.

"With seller and buyer protection and refunded returns, our payment gateway has helped us to address key barriers to cross-border shopping life safety and security, return processes and shipping issues," asserted Pahuja in the statement.

The research found that the top three popular corridors for cross-border shopping on web sites were US (14 per cent), Britain (6 per cent) and China (5 per cent) during the last 12 months.

Around 55 per cent of Indians shop cross-border more during Christmas and 53 per cent shop more from other countries for Diwali festival.

"The preferred choices for cross-border purchases were led by large-screen devices, with 56 per cent made on desktop, laptops or notebooks, followed by smart-phones (29 per cent) and tablets (10 per cent)," noted the report.

'Cart abandonment' is a key issue on cross-border shopping, with 51 per cent of shoppers claiming to have abandoned an online purchase from a website in another country.

"Reasons for cross-border cart abandonment include shipping charges being high, long delivery period, expensive returns and having to pay using another currency," said the report.

The research also illustrated that online shopping will be more on mobiles like smart-phones and tablets with spending estimated to reach Rs 416,600 crore by 2018 from Rs 203,600 crore in 2016.

"The survey found that 64 per cent of shoppers have used PayPal for cross border purchase for safer way to pay and quick payment process," claimed the report.

Entertainment, consumer electronics and household goods will be the growth categories for online spends in 2017.

"Online spend in the entertainment category is forecast to grow 56 per cent, consumer electronics and household goods category 53 per cent, leisure and outdoor hobbies and health and beauty 50 per cent," said the report.

In 13.8 million cross-border shoppers in India, the average spend was estimated to be Rs 42,400 in 2016.

Categories for which Indians shop online across the border include clothing/apparel, footwear, accessories (54 per cent), consumer electronics (43 per cent) and cosmetics/beauty products (42 percent).

"By 2018, online spend in India and cross border is forecast to reach Rs 875,600 crore from Rs 492,500 crore in 2016," the report added.

--IANS

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