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Online shopping sales across India amounted to around ** billion U.S. dollars in 2021. The e-commerce market is likely to grow to over *** billion U.S. dollars by 2025. The e-commerce market in India is the fastest-growing market in the world.

Online retail segments

In fiscal year 2017, the retail market was led by electronics with a penetration rate of about ** percent. However, in terms of groceries, local offline vendors or kiranas continued to be the preferred choice for daily groceries due the ease of bargaining and benefitting from the ‘old-customer’ designation with extra rations as a gesture from the vendor. Nevertheless, the number of online shoppers in the country was estimated to increase to over *** million in 2025, up from around ** million in 2017.

Impact of COVID-19 on the market

The coronavirus outbreak in March 2020 caused a surge in prices across e-commerce platforms. Panic purchasing resulted in the shortage of sanitary and food items online as well as in physical stores across the country. As the online consumption continued to increase, unscrupulous sellers jacked up the prices on certain items. Amazon and Flipkart, the two e-commerce market leaders in India urged sellers and even blocked certain products to exercise responsible pricing. Manufacturers increased production in order to keep up with the supply of fast-moving items. With the uncertainty surrounding the impact of COVID-19, manufacturers and retailers will presumably have to work in unison to keep track of an unprecedented demand and supply scenario.