India e-commerce mart awaits more billion dollar babies in '15

From Amazons of the world to Chinese Alibabas to desi Flipkarts, everyone wants to have a pie of the burgeoning e-commerce market in India and consumers are not complaining with sweet sale deals coming their way.
In the process, these e-retailers rubbed the brick-and- mortar traditional retailers wrong way in 2014 and are facing charges and investigations for alleged unfair trade practices.
Still, no one has any doubt about future growth prospects of the e-commerce market in India and experts believe that the country may see many more billion-dollar entities in this space during the new year 2015, while expanding the size of this over USD 3-billion marketplace.

The passing year saw big investors from India and abroad putting their money on various e-commerce ventures, which got funds to the tune of USD 3 billion from individuals, companies and private equity firms.
The industry players expect the fund inflows to continue, or may be get stronger in 2015 as well.
"With large scale global investments, growth of niche category eCommerce firms and the entry of global competitors/ brands, eCommerce landscape in India looks very promising," homegrown online marketplace major Flipkart Co-founder and CEO Sachin Bansal told PTI.

Today, India is one of the fastest-growing eCommerce markets in Asia/Pacific along with China. With increase in internet penetration, adoption of smartphones and lower data rates, the way India shops is completely changing, he added.

Kunal Bahl co-founder and CEO of Snapdeal said that e-commerce sector saw phenomenal growth this year and is changing the way people shop.
"We are focused on delivering the best shopping experience for customers. We are investing heavily on logistics and our platform so that consumers have a richer experience," he added.
Analysts say the online shopping space in India is expanding at a massive scale and the journey is not yet over.
Consulting firm PwC's India Technology Leader Sandeep Ladda said the eCommerce sector has seen unprecedented growth in 2014.
"It was driven by rapid technology adoption led by the increasing use of devices like smartphones and tablets and access to the Internet through broadband, 3G, etc, which led to increase in online consumer base," he added.

Furthermore, favoured demographics and growing Internet user base helped in aiding the growth. In terms of major highlights, growth shown by homegrown players like Flipkart and Snapdeal and the huge investor interest around these companies showed the immense potential of the market.
Also, in terms of funding, renewed market sentiments post the formation of the new government helped and overall business confidence significantly improved, Ladda said.