Indian Online retailing logs 50 % growth in 2010

[diva]

50 % yearly growth is unheard of in any segment .. Lot of untapped opportunities in this segment in India

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/online-retailing-logs-50-growth/750664/

While India?s $28-billion organised retail industry is growing at a CAGR of 22-25%, online retailing or e-tailing, which at present occupies less than 1% of the organised retail trade, is witnessing a growth of 40-50% year-on-year and is poised to touch $4-5 billion by 2015. The importance of multi-channel retailing through increased use of technology is being realised by retailers, say industry experts.
Some companies are adopting the brick-and-click structure, where their physical stores are being complemented by their web shopping portals, like futurebazaar, homeshop18, naaptol, ezone and starcj. Other companies like ebay, rediffshopping, flipkart, fashionandyou, ibibo and baazi.com operate in the pureplay model with only an online presence. Rahul Sethi, president ? e-commerce, ibibo.com , said, ?The brick-and-click model is not a scalable option as it doesn't leverage the full power of the internet. There are 40 million internet users in India, of which 20 million visit e-commerce sites and 2.5 million engage in online buying, which is about 5%. By FY15, India will have 150 million internet users and 30 million online buyers, nearly 20% higher.? Ibibo, an umbrella site offering variety of applications under its network, operates an online shopping portal called tradus.in. Sethi added, ?Tradus mostly sells premium brands. Launched in September last year, it has quadrupled its unique visitors from 1.5 lakhs to 6 laks by January.? Rahul Narvekar, co-founder and director of Fashion and You said, ?E-retail provides an alternative channel of liquidating your excess inventories. It helps save real estate costs and also aids in building up a brand.?
Fashion and You is a members-only online shopping club, selling apparel and accessories from luxury labels like Gucci, Louis Vutton, Armani etc and does a business of Rs 5 crore per month. Narvekar added, ?In e-retail only the front-end is alternate, as it is a non-store format. Back-end operations remain similar. With branded players stepping in for most products, credibility is not an issue.? ?Entertainment, consumer electronics, travel services and financial services are the sectors where e-retail has exploded?, said Pankaj Gupta, practice head ? consumer and retail, TSMG.