Delhi registers 88.5% rise in online shopping during festive season, Mumbai is second at 80.5% says Assocham study

With e-commerce companies launching their big sale to woo shoppers, Delhi has recorded an 88.5 per cent rise in online shopping during this festive season against regular online shopping that rose 56 per cent, as per a report. Industry lobby Assocham, which conducted a survey in key cities like Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Bangaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata, noted that about 82 per cent of Delhiites prefer shopping online. Mumbai came in second (80.5 per cent), Ahmedabad (78 per cent) at third, Bangalore (75 per cent) ranks fourth and Hyderabad fifth at 72.5 per cent. The respondents included 350 professionals, officers and executives across various industry sectors including manufacturing, real estate, automobile, healthcare, retail, hospitality. The e-commerce market was worth about $2.5 billion (roughly Rs. 16,176 crores) in 2009, touched $8 billion (roughly Rs. 51,763 crores) in 2015 and is expected to touch whopping $56 billion by 2023. Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru lead in terms of the sales, but there is also a huge surge of interest from tier II and tier III cities like Gurgaon, Noida, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Indore, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Vishakhapatnam where online sales have increased by 120 per cent year-on-year, the survey noted. During the sale, mobile phone is the most searched category online followed by apparel, computers and tablets, electronics, home-kitchen appliances, accessories and books, it observed. Most products bought and sold off through online comprise mobile phones (65 per cent), electronic gadgets (58 per cent), consumer durables (42 per cent), gift articles (41 per cent), accessories (36 per cent), apparel (36 per cent),computer and peripherals (33 per cent), home appliances (16 per cent), toys (16 per cent), beauty products (12 per cent), health and fitness products (12 per cent), apparel gift certificates (10 per cent) and sporting goods (7 per cent), the survey revealed. It noted that 35 per cent of regular shoppers are in 18-25 age group, 55 per cent in 26-35, 8 per cent in 36-45 and 2 per cent in the age group of 45-60. Almost 65 per cent of online shoppers are male as against 35 per cent female online shoppers. Most e-commerce companies are targeting 40-50 per cent revenue from mobile sales during the festive season. PTI