The popularity of Nykaa, MyGlamm and Purplle showed that the beauty vertical is one of the most sought-after among consumers
Flipkart led the race with 50.5 Mn downloads in 2021, while Amazon India bagged second spot with 43.6 Mn downloads
The rise of the Thrasio model, content commerce and house of brands will drive the ecommerce market in 2022
India’s ecommerce market has been largely dominated by the Amazon-Flipkart duopoly over the past few years. But more recently, the likes of AJIO, Nykaa, Purplle, Tata CLiQ, Myntra (Flipkart-owned) and others have risen in prominence thanks to the maturing ecommerce user base as well as the need for brands and sellers to diversify their channels.
Although this may not be reflected in market share, the smaller vertical ecommerce players are now challenging the predominance of the marketplace giants, and in 2021, the ecommerce race is anything but a foregone conclusion.
Explore Inc42's 2021 In Review
In the ever-evolving post-pandemic landscape, all ecommerce platforms are seeing unprecedented growth.
According to a Bobble AI (conversational media platform) report, the ecommerce industry witnessed an uptick of 77% in 2021 as compared to 2020. The study also revealed that the usage of beauty marketplaces such as Nykaa and Purplle grew by 64%, whereas fashion platforms Myntra, AJIO, Tata CLiQ and Meesho saw a whopping 368% growth over the past year.
Given the exponential growth and massive potential, this space has also attracted strong investor interest. India’s ecommerce sector raised $9.2 Bn in (as of December 18, 2021), a whopping 931% rise from 2020.
Thanks to these factors, Indian ecommerce is expected to become a $200 Bn opportunity by 2026 from $84 Bn in 2021, according to analysis by Inc42 Plus.
How Ecommerce Apps Stack Up
Despite a huge and growing addressable base of ecommerce shoppers (140 Mn+ in 2021), ecommerce apps have to battle each other for downloads and repeat buyers. Discounts and sales are often how brands get downloads and activity, while UI/UX (user interface and user experience), reward mechanism and leveraging data are the key to getting repeat buyers.
Inc42 partnered with AppTweak to understand how Indian ecommerce apps have performed in the past year in terms of downloads, pageviews, app power and more. Here are a few takeaways:
The Ecommerce Apps Downloads Race
Walmart-owned Flipkart outpaced Amazon India and Reliance-owned AJIO in 2021 with the most number of downloads. AJIO narrowly beat Flipkart-owned Myntra with 39.6 Mn downloads in 2021 as compared to Myntra’s 36.5 Mn downloads.
Nykaa has been in the news of late after its strong stock market debut. The beauty marketplace had the highest revenue share (18.5%) in the total addressable online beauty & personal care (BPC) market in FY20. It has more than 15 Mn users and had around 8.1 Mn app downloads in 2021, as it expanded to become a house of brands.
Purplle and MyGlamm rounded off the list of top ecommerce apps, showing just how much headroom remains in the beauty ecommerce vertical.
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Flipkart Vs Amazon India Vs AJIO: A Game Of Views
App stores have become much more than just a publishing platform, they are a major driver for app discovery, resulting in downloads for a particular app. Thus, app store optimisation (ASO) becomes a critical move for ecommerce apps to acquire more new users and poach downloads or views from their competitors.
The entire point of ASO is to create a narrative that entices customers to download the app, which includes a host of factors that impact visibility and traffic.
According to AppTweak, similar views present an estimated number of impressions an app gets when it appears under the ‘similar apps’ suggestions on a competitor’s page.
Between January and November 2021, Flipkart recorded the maximum number of similar views among all ecommerce apps on the Google Play Store — a total of 992 Mn. Flipkart gained around 31% of similar views or 307.7 Mn from Meesho’s app listing page. This means 31% of Flipkart’s app page impressions came from users who actually landed on the Meesho page on the Play Store.
Myntra clocked the second-highest similar views at 745.8 Mn. It gained 25% of similar views, or 189 Mn, through Meesho’s listing.
Reliance-owned AJIO gained 340.4 Mn similar views, poaching around 33% or 112 Mn views from Myntra. The AJIO app also gained significant impressions from Tata CLiQ (18% of total similar views) and Bewakoof (12% of total similar views) during the year 2021.
India’s Biggest Ecommerce Trends
In 2021, ecommerce marketplaces have come up against a new breed of competitors. Startups have gone for a ‘house of brands’ model, which means attacking the market with a variety of private label brands each of which have high affinity to each other. Besides this social commerce has emerged as a force.
The House Of Brands Model
Ecommerce startups have turned to private labels due to the inherent higher margins in this model given the end-to-end control of operations, the higher scalability opportunity, the potential for incremental revenue, and grabbing brand equity across segments.
Ecommerce Goes The Subscription Way
Ecommerce startups are shifting to the subscription model linked to loyalty programs to boost repeat purchases and create stronger connections with customers. In the D2C sphere, that means experimenting and testing the waters for models that seek to leverage the creamy layer of consumers through subscriptions.
Despite the number of startups and brands attempting to break through in the D2C subscription economy, it’s still early days. One thing that makes subscriptions compelling is the variety of models possible, as we have detailed here.
Growing Popularity Of Content Commerce
One of the most promising trends in the Indian ecommerce space, content commerce is driven by the consumption of short-form videos, the growth of influencer marketing, the rise in social media consumption and the rapid development of social commerce. Creators and influencers are also leveraging these platforms to reach new audiences and create their own ecommerce brands.
India’s live commerce space is booming and fast becoming a battleground for social media unicorns, ecommerce giants and upstarts, with the entry of Flipkart, Myntra and other bigwigs. Meesho, Bulbul, DealShare, SimSim, Trell, Chingari, Roposo are among the other major social commerce platforms in India.
Rise Of The Thrasio Model
Founded in 2018 by Carlos Cashman and Joshua Silberstein, Thrasio is the decacorn that pioneered the concept of ecommerce roll-ups. It is said to have earmarked $500 Mn for acquisitions of digital-first brands in India.
In India, this model has witnessed considerable interest from mainstream and debt investors. The Thrasio-style startups have raised a total funding of around $830.6 Mn till date. A dozen or so startups are currently operating in this space, including GlobalBees, Mensa, GOAT, 10Club and others.
India also witnessed its fastest unicorn in this space in the form of Mensa Brands. It became a unicorn in the six months since its inception after raising $135 Mn in Series B round in November 2021. Besides this, GlobalBees has also entered the unicorn club, bringing more eyes to this space.
For investors backing Thrasio-style ventures, the value lies in setting up house of brands and achieving efficiencies of scale with more integrated supply chains and more data on consumer behaviour across categories, helping them with better product development and market entry strategies. At least that’s the idea, but it remains to be seen how many of these platforms will manage to achieve profits and success in the Indian market.
Explore Inc42's 2021 In Review
FAQs
Which is bigger in India Flipkart or Amazon? ›
amazon.in had more total visits compared to flipkart.com in May 2023.
Which is the largest online market in India? ›Amazon in India. India's largest online marketplace is Amazon, with 296 million monthly visits.
Why Flipkart is popular in India? ›Lowest cost of doing business: Flipkart's online marketplace allows you to reap the benefits of sales without limitations since your cost of doing business on Flipkart is lower than other e-commerce portals. Whether you are a manufacturer, a vendor, or a supplier, you can become a top seller with minimal investment!
Is Flipkart an Indian company? ›Indian ecommerce market could outpace more mature markets to become the third largest market in the world with US$ 350 billion by 2030. Flipkart was founded in October 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal. It is one of India's leading E-commerce marketplaces and is headquartered in Bengaluru.
Who is the biggest competitor of Amazon in India? ›in's top 5 competitors in May 2023 are: flipkart.com, croma.com, indiamart.com, snapdeal.com, and more.
Who is the biggest competitor of Flipkart? ›- amazon.in, with 670.5M visits, 98 authority score, 54.66% bounce rate.
- indiamart.com, with 80.8M visits, 97 authority score, 68.39% bounce rate.
- pinterest.com, with 730.1M visits, 100 authority score, 68.81% bounce rate.
- etsy.com, with 463.9M visits, 100 authority score, 47.05% bounce rate.
Flipkart
Sachin and Binny Bansal founded Flipkart in 2007 and started this venture as an online bookstore. It gradually transformed into India's top online marketplace with over 80 million products and over 240 million visitors every month.
Flipkart.com
After takeover of letsbuy.com, Myntra.com, Jabong.com now flipkart is largest player of e-commerce of India. Flipkart is also a similar website like Amazon. Flipkart comes after Amazon in the choice list of Indian customers.
- DIGITAL MARKETING AND SOCIAL MEDIA: ...
- ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND AUTOMATION: ...
- ENERGY SECTOR: ...
- CONSTRUCTION: ...
- TELECOM: ...
- RETAIL: ...
- MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT: ...
- TOURISM INDUSTRY: One of the crucial cornerstones of the nation's “made in India” initiative is the tourism industry.
Flipkart Delivery the USA: What we offer
You can shop from almost all the major e-commerce marketplaces and get your orders delivered to the USA.
Is Flipkart in loss in India? ›
Flipkart Private Limited reported a loss of over 39 billion Indian rupees in the financial year 2022 in India, compared to a loss of over 24 billion Indian rupees in the previous financial year.
Is Flipkart doing well in India? ›“In India, Flipkart's commerce platform continues to scale… expanding its reach in tier two and three cities. Flipkart's ekart business now includes more than 35,000 kirana partners. The team continues to expand their products and services.
Is Flipkart available outside India? ›A potential customer can shop from 1000+ desi/Indian online stores and, we ship those packages/couriers off to 220+ countries around the world.
How many Flipkart users in India? ›Amazon India outnumbered all other Indian marketplaces with more than 295 million visitors per month by November 2022. The second was Flipkart with more than 167 million visitors per month.
What is the current situation of Amazon in India? ›New Rivals Push Amazon To The Brink
Its marketplace business managed to narrow its loss 23% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 3,649 Cr in FY22, with a total revenue of over INR 21,600 Cr.
- 1) Amazon India. ...
- 2) Flipkart. ...
- 3) Nykaa. ...
- 4) IndiaMART. ...
- 5) Meesho. ...
- 6) FirstCry. ...
- 7) BookMyShow. ...
- 8) OLX.
Within the several industries it operates in, some of Amazon's top competitors include Alibaba, eBay, Walmart, Target, Netflix, Disney+, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, etc.
Who is the American competitor to Amazon? ›- Online stores.
- Walmart.
- Flipkart.
- Target.
- Alibaba Group.
- Otto.
- JD.
- Netflix.
Flipkart's brand is ranked #941 in the list of Global Top 1000 Brands, as rated by customers of Flipkart.
Which is the biggest hub of Flipkart in India? ›HYDERABAD: E-commerce giant Flipkart on Tuesday rolled out its sixth and largest fulfilment centre (FC) spread over 4 lakh sq ft in Telangana at Sangareddy district on Hyderabad's outskirts.
What are the biggest sales in Flipkart? ›
- Flipkart Big Savings Day Sales.
- Flipkart Big Freedom Days Sales.
- Flipkart Big Billion Days Sales.
- End Of Season Sales (EOSS)
- Flipkart Big Diwali Sales.
Clothing & Apparels
They are one of the most selling products in India. Especially with players like Myntra, Amazon, Meesho, etc., clothing and apparel are available to people at affordable rates and quick delivery.
- Amazon.
- Flipkart.
- eBay.
- WazirX.
- Snapdeal.
- ShopClues.
- Myntra.
- Zerodha.
IndiaMART is considered the largest B2B company in India.
Which is the richest online shopping in India? ›- Amazon. Amazon is the biggest and the oldest online shopping site all around the world. ...
- Flipkart. ADVERTISEMENT. ...
- Myntra. ...
- Snapdeal. ...
- COM. ...
- Tata 1MG. ...
- Nykaa. ...
- 8. com.
According to the report, Delhi-NCR topped the charts as the most online shopping savvy city in India, closely followed by Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad.
What is the #1 shopping app? ›It is no surprise that the online retail giant Amazon Shopping tops the list as the most downloaded retailer app on both the app stores in the United States, surpassing a record 27M downloads in total in 2022 so far.
Which sector will boom in 2023 in India? ›In addition to this, the Indian government's green energy push has led to the renewables industry growing at an astounding rate. Moreover, the forthcoming budget for F.Y. 2023-2024 will likely push renewables even further. This makes the energy sector one of the best sectors to invest in India right now.
What is fastest growing business in India? ›- 1.1 Interior Design and Decoration.
- 1.2 Pharmaceutical Businesses.
- 1.3 Organic Farming.
- 1.4 Labour Contractor.
- 1.5 Cloud Kitchen.
- 1.6 Fashion Accessories.
- 1.7 Photography.
- 1.8 Exclusive Plant Nurseries.
| S.No. | Name | CMP Rs. |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Life Insurance | 605.80 |
| 2. | Dr Reddy's Labs | 4918.00 |
| 3. | Hero Motocorp | 2795.00 |
| 4. | Coromandel Inter | 945.10 |
How big is Amazon compared to India? ›
1. The Amazon rainforest covers an enormous 6.7 million square kilometres. Spanning 8 countries and one overseas territory in South America and representing an area twice the size of India – or roughly 28 times the side of the UK!
Which is Indian company Amazon or Flipkart? ›Amazon is a well-known brand worldwide and is often synonymous with online shopping. Flipkart, on the other hand, is a more localized brand and is primarily known in India. Product Portfolio: Both Amazon and Flipkart offer a wide range of products, including electronics, fashion, home goods, and more.
What is the size of Amazon compared to India? ›About the Amazon | WWF. Spanning 6.7 million km2 (twice the size of India) the Amazon Biome is virtually unrivalled in scale, complexity and opportunity, and truly is a region distinguished by superlatives.
Is Amazon or Alibaba bigger in India? ›“Amazon is the bigger company. It had a headstart on Alibaba in a way because it started earlier. As well, it's more global, in its more countries than Alibaba. Though, Alibaba is doing more to spread globally as well.
Which country is biggest market for Amazon? ›Approximately 59.3% of Amazon sellers reside in China, while the next most common home countries of sellers are the United States (34.8%), Hong Kong (4%), and the United Kingdom (0.6%).
Is Amazon a success in India? ›The country is one of Amazon's biggest overseas markets and also one of its fastest growing with a best-in-class customer experience and large Prime customer base.
Is Amazon bigger than USA? ›At 6.9 million square kilometers (2.72 million square miles), the Amazon Basin is roughly the size of the forty-eight contiguous United States and covers some 40 percent of the South American continent.
How many people use Flipkart in India? ›Amazon India outnumbered all other Indian marketplaces with more than 295 million visitors per month by November 2022. The second was Flipkart with more than 167 million visitors per month.
Which Indian company is similar to Amazon? ›- 1) Amazon India. ...
- 2) Flipkart. ...
- 3) Nykaa. ...
- 4) IndiaMART. ...
- 5) Meesho. ...
- 6) FirstCry. ...
- 7) BookMyShow. ...
- 8) OLX.
Amazon's success in India is largely because of its strategy, innovation, customization and localization of its services and operations in India. Aggressive advertising might have also helped partly in promoting the Amazon brand in India.
How many people buy from Amazon in India? ›
In India, Amazon has more than 100 million registered users. Amazon's investments in infrastructure and partnerships with local vendors for better deliveries are likely to increase the number of users in India. Amazon is the most prominent competitor to India's own Flipkart, with over 200 million registered consumers.
How many Indians live in the Amazon? ›The Amazon is the world's largest rainforest. It is also the ancestral home of 1 million Indians. They are divided into about 400 tribes, each with its own language, culture and territory.
Why Alibaba will beat Amazon? ›Alibaba is cheaper, more profitable, and faster-growing than Amazon. However, Amazon faces less political risk. In this article, I explore these and other factors to determine which of the two e-commerce giants is a better buy.
Who is Alibaba biggest competitor? ›JD.com is one of Alibaba's primary domestic competitors in the ecommerce space. Alibaba also faces smaller national competitors and local upstarts across the Chinese landscape, including the Chinese ecommerce site Pinduoduo.
Who is Amazon's competition? ›Within the several industries it operates in, some of Amazon's top competitors include Alibaba, eBay, Walmart, Target, Netflix, Disney+, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, etc.