Ahmedabad, October 09, 2014 – The festival season this year has triggered a huge rise in online shopping and may cross the Rs. 10,000-crore mark, resulting in the halving of footfalls in malls in places like Delhi-NCR and Ahmedabad, apex industry body Assocham said here on Wednesday.
Internet shopping is expected to shoot up to 350 per cent ahead of Diwali on October 23, compared to the jump of 200 per cent in the August-September period. “At present the market is estimated at Rs.12,000 crore. It could cross the Rs. 100,000-crore mark a year in India over the next three to four years,” the survey on Indian Online Retail Sales Surge in Festive Season , conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham), revealed.
A more than five-fold increase is expected in revenue generated through e-commerce as compared to last year with branded apparel, accessories, jewellery, gifts and footwear, all of which are available cheaper and delivered within two to three days, DS Rawat, Secretary-General, Assocham, said.
E-commerce sales in August and September grew by 200 per cent as compared to 120 per cent in the same months of 2013, with mobile sales booming 100 per cent.
Malls take a beating
At 49.5 per cent, Delhi-NCR has recorded the steepest decline in footfalls at city malls, followed by Ahmedabad (48.2 per cent), Chennai (46 per cent), Mumbai (42 per cent) and Hyderabad (39 per cent).
Around 250-300 malls came up in the country in the last two years but 80-85 per cent of the space still lies vacant. Online shopping has proved especially harsh for shopping malls, adds the report. Business Line
