Future of e-Commerce: Uncovering Innovation www.deloitte.com/in 2 Contents Foreword 04 Message from ASSOCHAM 05 Message from ASSOCHAM 06 Overview of e-Commerce 07 Innovative and Emerging Business Models 16 Modern Enabling Technologies 20 Cyber Security Challenges 23 Taxation Challenges 28 The Way Ahead 31 Acknowledgements 35 About ASSOCHAM 36 References 37 3 Foreword The listing of Alibaba on the New York Stock Exchange The supply chain and logistics in e-commerce business at the valuation of $231 billion has brought global are highly complex to manage in a vast country like focus on the e-commerce market. The e-commerce India where infrastructure is not well-developed to industry continues to evolve and experience high growth reach every remote and rural area. The taxation policies in both developed and developing markets. With the for the e-businesses are not well-defined depending emergence of non-banking players in the payments on different business models and transaction types. industry and innovative vertical specific startups, the The complexity has further amplified with transactions Indian e-commerce market is expanding at a rapid happening across borders for online selling of goods and pace. The digital commerce market in India has grown services. Moreover, e-businesses do not take sufficient steadily from $4.4 billion in 2010 to $13.6 billion in steps to deploy a security solution, which is hindering Hemant Joshi 2014 while the global market is forecasted to reach the consumer from transacting online. $1.5 trillion in 2014. Increasing mobile and internet penetration, m-commerce sales, advanced shipping and Newer technologies that could significantly bring a payment options, exciting discounts, and the push into paradigm shift in the online businesses are analytics, new international markets by e-businesses are the major autonomous vehicles, social commerce, and 3D printing. drivers of this unprecedented growth. Companies have started to invest in data analytics to gain real-time insights into customer buying behavior The M&A deals (Softbank’s $627 million deal with and thus offer personalized user experience. The Snapdeal, Flipkart acquired Myntra for $370 million, e-commerce companies are building communities on Ola Cabs acquired TaxiForSure for $200 million) and social media networks to better understand customer sky-rocket valuation of these e-commerce giants rising needs and to drive effective marketing strategies. in last one year shows that the sector is heating up. The question would be whether these valuations are The future of e-commerce is bright and growth will sustainable despite showing no signs of profitability. come from mobile platforms, personalization, social The global players like Amazon and Alibaba have deep media analytics, omni-channel service, and sharing pockets to rely on their parent companies for continuous economy business models. funding support. The homegrown players would definitely need different metrics to preserve the investor The e-commerce industry is an exciting place with the confidence build in the sector. interplay of social, mobility, analytics, cloud (SMAC), digital, 3D and, virtualization. The current high The big retailers are increasingly focusing on their digital valuations, in spite of losses, perhaps, are indicative of strategies in order to gain the obvious benefits of online the future potential. platforms – wider reach, always on, personalization to name a few. The e-commerce companies are concentrating their efforts on increasing the penetration of their mobile apps for higher growth. Big players in this space claim to have more than 50% of their revenue coming from mobile apps. 4 Message from ASSOCHAM Increasing internet and mobile penetration, growing smart phones is proving to be a game changer, and acceptability of online payments and favorable industry leaders believe that m-commerce could demographics has provided the e-commerce sector in contribute up to 70% of their total revenues. India the unique opportunity to fundamentally alter the way companies connect with their customers. Due to The Government’s ambitious ‘Digital India’ project that this digital revolution, the e-commerce sector in India aims to offer a one-stop shop for Government services has become 4 times its size, from $3.8 billion in 2009 will further bolster the sector by introducing internet to $17 billion in 2014, growing at a CAGR of 37%. The and broadband to remote corners of the country sector is expected to cross the $100 billion mark within and increase trade. This initiative through a targeted the next five years, contributing over 4% to India’s GDP. investment of nearly $17 billion will transform India into a connected economy and also attract investment in Rana Kapoor Online travel, one of the key drivers of India’s electronics manufacturing and create millions of jobs. President, ASSOCHAM e-commerce market, accounts for nearly 71% of Managing Director & CEO, e-commerce business in India. Though the online retail It is therefore important to overcome challenges YES Bank market in India, currently at $1.6 billion, is a miniscule in Financing, Infrastructure, Logistics and focus on fraction of India’s overall $500 billion retail industry; building Customer Loyalty to usher in the next wave retail e-commerce has recorded a three-fold growth of sustainable growth in e-commerce. Dedicated since 2011, predominantly driven by million dollar e-commerce laws are required to address issues in the investments by domestic and foreign investors. sector’s legal and regulatory framework and Banks must play a leading role as ‘Facilitators’ by offering cost 2014 known as the ‘BILLION DOLLAR YEAR’, was critical effective cash management solutions, secure payment for the burgeoning e-commerce industry with many gateways and other relevant banking services. companies attracting private equity investments, which catapulted them to billion dollar valuations within less I am confident that ASSOCHAM’s 4th National Conclave than a decade of operations. These valuations further on E-Commerce India will be instrumental in addressing drew interest not only from the conventional VC and PE challenges in garnering investments into this sunrise firms but also Hedge Funds, Sovereign Funds and even sector and ensuring its increasing contribution to India’s private capital from industry leaders. growth story. On the other hand, mobile commerce (m-commerce) is growing rapidly as a stable and secure supplement to the e-commerce industry. Shopping online through Future of e-Commerce: Uncovering Innovation | 5 Message from ASSOCHAM India is at the cusp of an e-commerce revolution. On behalf of ASSOCHAM I would like to thank the team Although e-commerce has been making rounds in the at Deloitte for preparing a comprehensive white paper country for over a decade, it is in the recent years that on e-commerce in India. The e-commerce industry the appropriate ecosystem has started to fall in place. is one of the fastest growing sectors in the country Factors like accelerating internet access, staggering today, spurring first generation entrepreneurs, large penetration of mobile phones and robust investment scale manufacturing by SMEs, and most importantly have driven the growth of this industry and if current impacting the infrastructure growth of the country. projections are anything to go by, India is on route to The recent Spectrum Auctions, roll-out of 3G and 4G becoming the world's fastest growing e-commerce broadband services and the National Broadband Plan market. will certainly usher new business opportunities for e-commerce in the country. ASSOCHAM has been doing a remarkable job in promoting e-commerce in India through various We are happy to note that the leading e-commerce measures and events, including the e-commerce India companies are participating in the 4th National Conclave. After massive success of first three editions Conclave: e-COMMERCE INDIA to deliberate upon the of the conclave, it is really a pleasure to know that emerging opportunities in this area. ASSOCHAM is organizing the 4th National Conclave e-commerce India in New Delhi. I wish them all success We hope that this paper will be read by all the relevant in their noble endeavors and I am sure they will keep up stakeholders and they will benefit from its extensive the good work in the field. research. Bikky Khosla D. S. RAWAT Chairman, ASSOCHAM Secretary General, National Council on ASSOCHAM e-Commerce & CEO, tradeindia.com 6 Overview of e-Commerce Over the last decade, the Internet has changed the way themselves by providing innovative service offerings like people buy and sell goods and services. Online retail or one-day delivery, 30-day replacement warranty, cash on e-commerce is transforming the shopping experience delivery (CoD), cashback offers, mobile wallets, etc. The of customers. The sector has seen unprecedented supply chain has improved significantly and e-tailers are growth especially in the last two years. The adoption even leveraging on the services of Indian Post for greater of technology is enabling the e-commerce sector to be reach across the country. In 2014, Indian Post collected more reachable and efficient. Devices like smartphones, ` 2.8 billion through CoD option of payment. 1 tablets and technologies like 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi and high speed broadband is helping to increase the number India slipped from 14th to 20th rank among the top 30 of online customers. Banks and other players in developing countries in 2014 Global Retail Development e-commerce ecosystem are providing a secured online Index (GRDI) that looks at measures for retail investments platform to pay effortlessly via payments gateways. worldwide. 2 Chile and China are leading in the GRDI rankings. The sector is still in its growth stage in India The homegrown players have shown tremendous and has enormous potential to offer in the coming growth and attracted some big investors. The entry of years.