E-commerce buying to see an uptick from Tier 2 & 3 cities; UPI to dominate digital payments
The year 2020 witnessed interesting business developments, with the pandemic changing the way businesses operate and interact with their end users. In a country where more than 17 percent of the population is at an average age of 28 years, digital solutions and technology will define the year ahead. Instamojo, a full-stack solutions provider for MSMEs, conducted a study across its platform to understand the trends and developments in the e-commerce space. As part of the study, the company launched a report on the e-commerce Outlook for 2021 which draws the experiences of more than a million small businesses across the country including Instamojo’s merchants like LegalWiz, Syrow, Profitbooks, and MSMEx.
The outlook for online businesses is looking sharp. Today’s digital entrepreneur is more aware than they have ever been and with the right kind of tools and support from the government and private sector, India is set to record massive business growth.
New “tech-powered” entrepreneurs emerge from Tier II and Tier III cities –
· Entrepreneurs today understand the power of online presence and digital operations. There has been a 3X growth in unique businesses creating online stores
· Businesses will come prepared with lean and flexible models that operate in an online-offline mix. The focus will be on selling directly to the consumer in 2021.
· Patna, Guwahati, Imphal were some of the many cities that topped the charts.
Speaking on the findings of the report, Akash Gehani COO & Co-founder, Instamojo said, “Small businesses in India are today evolving themselves as per the consumer and industry requirements. They are hungry for growth and much more resilient than we could’ve imagined. Merchants have come to understand the diverse nature of consumers and that innovation is the key differentiator. In fact, at Instamojo, we on-boarded 200,000+ small businesses from tier II and tier III cities during the lockdown period and more than 70 percent of these entrepreneurs had no prior online presence. Small businesses owners are making necessary changes to their brands, to the way they operate, and also the way they deal with their customers online in order to survive in the growing e-commerce space.”
