Businesses of tomorrow may be inclined to put a little more focus on the Indian market if a new report from Worldpay comes to pass. The report suggests that the Indian market could surpass the United States in the eCommerce field in as little as two decades, and it’s all thanks to a variety of new developments.
It wasn’t a stretch to suggest the Indian market was an up-and-comer. With around four times the population of the United States, and one on par with China, the sheer weight of all those people was enough to tip many scales. Throw in an increasing penetration of mobile devices in the Indian market and it hands a lot of people the necessary means to start shopping online.
Moreover, India’s massive population is much younger than the United States’ does; with 70 percent of India currently under 35, that’s a lot of people who are about to come into their biggest spending periods and have the most disposable income. Plus, more of these young folks are growing into middle class shoppers, which means more disposable income overall and a better opportunity to spend. By 2020, the market could grow to around $63 billion, and by 2024, over $2 trillion.
With data plans projected to remain inexpensive and shoppers’ wallets deepening (plus the sheer mass of India’s population), this market could become an online shopping powerhouse dominated by mobile devices and, by extension, mobile payments. With cash on the decline, that’s one more brick in the wall for this concept.
In this case, it’s not exactly a huge loss. People forget that the United States is just the third most populous nation on Earth. Losing market status to countries with four times our population and beyond isn’t exactly a blow. It’s like your favorite football team losing in a game in which it took on four teams simultaneously.
India becoming a major figure in eCommerce isn’t out of line and should be the kind of thing that businesses are already working on taking advantage of. Having first-mover advantage here could mean billions in market share, and supplying the eCommerce needs of such a market could be just as lucrative as marketing elsewhere.
