Rochelle D'Souza

Principal, Lighthouse Advisors India Pvt. Ltd.

E-commerce Report (April 2019)

“There has been a lot of sub sectors in the unorganized space and a lot of them are now movingtowards the organized sector. The penetration levels have been very low and we are at a pointwhere we are trying to get consumers into the organized consumption sector.E-commerce must be viewed as a channel for the consumer to consume for example groceries.People are still buying their groceries from the local vegetable sellers or wholesalers but havealso started going into supermarkets and modern trade. Modern trade penetration in retail itself isvery low. When you put the e-commerce channel on top of it it just adds another level to increaseconsumption.Similarly if apparel retail is considered players like V2 Retail FBB V-Mart are opening stores intier 2-4 towns. Retailers are looking at omni-channels to reach out to a larger consumer pool andenhance overall shopping experience.A lot of consumption categories are moving online anything that offers convenience has minimaltouch point and are standardized will see a faster shift to online. For instance - groceries are aminimal touch categories because the consumers do not want to spend too much time in themarket to buy them.“