The present study has been undertaken to describe the present and future prospects of Indian E-Commerce industry. The study examined the current trends, benefits, growth drivers, challenges and future prospects of E-Commerce in India to achieve the objectives and revealed that the E-commerce in India has become a vital part of everyday life and now-a-days it’s not a privilege but a necessary for the society as it becomes one of the most preferred means of shopping. The e-commerce landscape is constantly increasing in terms of number of internet users and expected to reach 500 million by June 2018, moreover, the retail e-commerce CAGR is projected to reach 23 per cent from 2016 to 2021. This rapid growth rate promises a great future for the Indian e-commerce industry signifying a strong market and increased consumer demand. Further, the study revealed that in-spite of the opportunities, it provided to the wholesalers, retailers, producers and the people; Indian e-commerce industry faces many challenges. The e-infrastructural issues, tax related issues, preference of cash on delivery, poor knowledge and awareness of consumers, etc. are becoming the key challenges for the Indian ecommerce companies. E-commerce in India should take these challenges as an opportunity to overcome the various bottlenecks in the way of e-commerce. In nutshell, it can be said that there is no contradicting the fact that e-commerce has re-entered India and is here to stay.
KEYWORDS: E-commerce, Internet Users, E-merchandise, E-finance, Online Shopping.
Introduction E-commerce can be defined as an industry born out of internet revolution. Electronic Commerce is more than just buying and selling products online. It also includes the entire online process of developing, marketing, selling, delivering, servicing and paying for products and services. India has shown tremendous growth in the E-commerce segment. E-commerce is definitely one of the business options that one will have to explore in the future. Ecommerce is said to bring about paradigm shift in the world for trading E-commerce is a part of information and communication technology in the field of economy with the automation in technology, a rapid change in the methodology for business transactions. From a buzzword to a current-day reality, e-commerce in India has been experiencing remarkable growth, successfully changing the way people transact. E-commerce means trading in goods and services or the transmitting of funds or data through the electronic system like internet. E-commerce consists two main parts: one is, e- merchandise and another one is, e-finance.
E-commerce provides so many benefits to consumers in the form of wider area of choice, easiness and convenience, availability of goods at lower cost, and save time & money.
Benefits of E-Commerce With increasing demand for online shopping, more and more businesses are moving towards ecommerce. E-commerce becomes one of the most preferred ways of shopping. E-commerce involves understanding the limitations and minimizing the negative impact while at the same time maximizing the benefits-commerce businesses usually employ some or all of the following practices:
