India's mobile commerce market to reach $19 bn by 2019: Study

As smartphone sales continue their journey north surging by 51 percent every three months, the mobile commerce (m-comm) market may grow by 55 percent from its present size of $2 billion to $19 billion by 2019, a study said on Friday.

According to a study released by market research firm, Zinnov, "right from user research to product anytime and anywhere, smartphones are an emerging point of purchase and to address the demand from upcountry makets and changing consumer shopping pattern, e-commerce companies are increasing their focus on mobile commerce".

The survey found over 91 percent of the consumers had researched a product or service on their phone while online transactions on the smartphone platform rose between 30-50 percent in the upcountry areas.

Further, it said 54 percent of the consumers have purchased either a product or a service from their smartphones.

It opined that major e-commerce players like Flipkart and Quikr are serious about their plans to augment the m-comm platform.

In 2014, 81 million units of the smart gadget were shipped to the country.

"Smartphones are already outpacing the growth of feature phones and are expected to show a massive 36 percent CAGR over the next five years making it to the 651 million mark by 2019... The unstoppable surge of smartphones in India continues with 29 percent of urban population with a base of 409 million users adding to its adoption," the research firm said in a statement.