Can e-commerce startups survive in India?

Can e-commerce startups survive in India? | E-commerce has the potential to assist businesses in scaling up and reviving our ailing economy.

Can e-commerce startups survive in India? Supporting e-commerce platforms can assist online businesses build up in India while also gaining access to international markets, Can e-commerce startups survive in India? which is especially important given India's economic turmoil.

New Delhi: As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread, it's time to reconsider India's status as the poster-child of growing markets. Our economy has been declining at an alarming rate, and most reliable economists expect negative growth this fiscal year.

Many people are looking to India's thriving startup ecosystem to help them develop during this economic downturn. The environment, on the other hand, has suffered some particular challenges, and to get all parties to work together to lift the country out of this rut.

E-commerce businesses would be a crucial stakeholder in this context, since they can assist Indian entrepreneurs with their most pressing difficulty, which is scale.

Can e-commerce startups survive in India?

The largest challenge, in my experience as an entrepreneur and investor, is the information gap between those who produce products and solutions and those who are expected to use them. As many new founders strive to expand outside localised pockets, bridging this gap and acquiring an in-depth grasp of clients and their demands becomes a difficult task.

Startups benefit from e-commerce in terms of innovation and investment.

India is a varied country with numerous cultures, languages, ethnicities, and faiths living side by side in a single market. Many tech-savvy entrepreneurs fail to comprehend consumer preferences and engage with them on a national scale.

This is where I believe e-commerce can make a huge difference. The majority of platforms are now available in regional languages, allowing vendors to effortlessly expand their businesses across the country. Consumers in smaller towns and villages benefit from the regional language choice on portals such as Amazon and Flipkart.

As a result, businesses may take advantage of the growing demand for products in these countries via the online channel. The inefficiency of India's industrial transportation networks is another big hurdle for firms trying to scale.

In today's world, companies must constantly enhance their client acquisition strategies and guarantee that their back office supply chain and logistics are cutting-edge in terms of technology and processes in order to fully please customers.

Advanced technologies like augmented reality, drones, and robots that can help pack and ship products are critical for companies to cut costs and maintain their competitiveness. By partnering with e-commerce platforms, startups can now benefit from these developments without having to invest directly in them.

Can e-commerce startups survive in India?

How India's small ecommerce businesses are surviving and thriving in the face of Alibaba and Amazon India's current digital transformation is predicted to increase the country's entire internet user base to 829 million by 2021, up from 560.01 million in September 2018. From $38.5 billion in 2017, the Indian e-commerce market is predicted to expand to $200 billion by 2026.

Ecommerce is expected to play a crucial part in India's online economy, which is expected to triple in size from US$125 billion in April 2017 to US$250 billion by 2020. In 2017, the Indian e-commerce business saw 21 private equity and venture capital agreements for $2.1 billion, and 40 deals worth $1129 million in the first half of 2018.

The India Brand Equity Foundation's data and growth projections demonstrate the Indian e-commerce sector's promise, potential, and growth.

While large e-commerce companies like Amazon, Flipkart, and others are driving much of this growth, there are countless tiny e-commerce platforms that are also contributing to the rising trend.

These little e-commerce enterprises, which are often situated in smaller cities and villages, lack the deep penetration and growth numbers of the larger giants. However, by providing access to a huge market, this new breed of smaller e-commerce companies has had a cascading effect on micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Can e-commerce startups survive in India?

Here are three tiny e-commerce platform entrepreneurs who share their stories of how they discovered a significant market vacuum that wasn't being addressed by the larger competitors, which allowed them to survive and develop.

Meenakshi Hiwase, Art Gift

Meenakshi Hiwase began working as a marketing expert after finishing her MBA in the small village of Dr Ambedkar Nagar in Madhya Pradesh's Indore region. However, after two years of working a 9 to 5 job, she desired to strike out on her own. "As an art aficionado, she opted to work on a platform where Indian artisans can sell their artworks and crafts without having to haggle."

Meenakshi's first task after co-founding A Gift with her husband in 2018 was finding artists to collaborate with. "This was the most difficult element because, unsurprisingly, few artists were ready to offer their work for fear of their designs and artwork being stolen."

It took a long time of about a year and over 500 interactions with artists for me to be able to offer customers items like handmade Kalamkari fabric jewellery, jute bags, decoupage homeware, and clay."She crafts jewellery, among other things." Customers can now personalise their Art Gift orders.

Can e-commerce startups survive in India?

Mystic Collections' Vidya Swaminathan

Vidya Swaminathan worked for companies such as HDFC Bank and the Aditya Birla Group after completing a Bachelors in Information Technology and Management, a Post-

Graduation in Marketing and Strategy, and an advanced study in Strategic Management at IIM Calcutta.

However, in 2015, she left the corporate sector to pursue her business dream. "At first, my family was concerned that I was entering unfamiliar territory because no one in the family had ever owned a business." But that didn't stop them from putting their wholehearted support behind me."

Mystic Collections was founded by her as an online fashion jewellery company. "My choice of jewellery and accessories was always admired and commended."

And I had a good time doing it. As a result, the entrepreneurial endeavour provided me with a means of monetizing this talent." Vidya also observed a good product-market fit, according to her.

"Because this product is utilised on a daily basis and not just for special occasions, the fashion jewellery segment has a very large target audience around the world." Today, not everyone spends on fine jewellery on a regular basis.

In the case of fashion jewellery, however, the opposite is true. By 2020, the fashion accessory market is estimated to reach $7.5 billion, with the jewellery segment accounting for half of that."

Can e-commerce startups survive in India?

taazataaza, Karthika Reddy

Taking a high-paying IT career after finishing her Bachelors in Engineering would have been the logical choice. Karthika Reddy, on the other hand, dabbled in 3D graphics and web development in her desire to learn.

She is now the co-founder of taazataaza, a B2B2C e-commerce marketplace that she and her husband founded in 2016. It's a fascinating narrative of how she got into entrepreneurship.

"After being unable to locate vetiver-based footwear that I had previously purchased online, we realised there was a market for a marketplace that sold only one-of-a-kind things that couldn't be found anywhere else," says the founder. After two years of discussion, we felt there was a business possibility for a 'prosumer' marketplace."

taaza taaza, founded in Hubli, now acts as a single platform for small- and large-scale producers to sell their products directly to distributors, retailers, and end customers. Traditional Ilkal sarees, candies, indoor plants, literature, and jewellery, as well as puja items, are all available at taazataaza.

"Taazataaza.com is more than just another marketplace for us." We provide technology for both companies and customers to actively engage in improved fulfilment. It's being built as a marketplace for prosumers.

All of our processes are adaptable, open, and ever-evolving, allowing our vendors to expand their product lines and assist clients in making informed decisions."

While the company competes with Amazon, Flipkart, and other huge e-commerce platforms, the entrepreneur argues that "the fact that the big marketplaces today own and promote their own private label can be unfavourable to smaller manufacturers and distributors."

This is where a marketplace like taaza taaza, in our opinion, offers value and differentiates itself. We may not have the same deep penetration or finances as them, but we do have a model that supports and serves the needs of small businesses.

Small businesses are now realising the value and openness we provide and are assisting us in our growth."