Additionally, the online marketplace contributes to over 100 U.S. dollars in the country’s gross merchandise value (GMV), with the B2C segment being the biggest contributor to the market. Based on sales channel distribution, B2C e-commerce is further divided into online retail, online marketplaces, D2C (direct-to-consumer) e-commerce, and B2C services.
B2C companies and services
The country’s B2C e-commerce market is booming due to the presence of e-commerce giants such as Amazon India and Flipkart. The Flipkart Group occupied about 50 percent of the online retail market share of the country in 2023. These online marketplace companies have helped businesses sell their products to a larger consumer base not only in urban cities but also in rural areas. Online shopping is now more accessible in rural areas because of the “Digital India” initiative launched in 2015.The size of the B2C e-commerce market was about 30 billion U.S. dollars and is estimated to increase to thrice the previous value by 2024. In recent years, the demand for B2C services has surged. The B2C e-commerce sector received overall funding of four billion U.S. dollars with over 300 deals across various market segments such as travel, finance, retail, healthcare, and education.
Online retail or e-retail market
Even though the offline retail market is dominant in India, the online retail penetration surged in the overall organized retail market and is projected to increase by 10.7 percent by 2024. The market size of the online retail industry amounted to 60 billion U.S. dollars in the financial year 2023 and is expected to increase to 170 billion dollars by 2027. The tremendous growth of the online retail market is driven by reliable payment methods, advanced customer service, advertisement, customized user experience, and express deliveries.Home, living, health, and other categories had the country’s highest share of online retail sales, followed by consumer electronics. Furthermore, advertisement monetization has helped boost online retailers’ revenue in 2023 by attracting customers and attaining higher conversion rates. The advertisement revenue for online retail was 1.2 billion U.S. dollars in the financial year 2023.