Indian retail is coming to terms with the digital disruption that is converging the online and offline retailers to explore customer insights using artificial intelligence in the new landscape for retail that is set to usher.
At the two-day conclave of India Retail Forum 2018 that concluded today, experts across the spectrum deliberated on the affluence index and retail potential in the country and the tectonic shift in changing space allocation at shopping malls towards food and entertainment as online takes precedence in shopping.
With the advent of the online shopping, malls are getting reconfigured with food and beverage along with entertainment now allocating for up to 40 percent for the space compared to 15-17 percent in the past few years, said Ashutosh Limaye, Director & Head, Consulting Services, ANAROCK Property Consultants.
Mobile penetration on the other hand has boosted online shopping with lower cash on delivery and more through payment gateways. Moreover, with messaging on the rise, the internet linked mobile usage is set to reshape the retail business with mobile moving from being a mere technology to consumer behavior.
“By 2020 mobile will drive the majority of all sales but 90 percent plus of these sales will still occur in stores,” said Prateek Sinha, Industry Manager, Retail & E-commerce, Facebook India.
Further, mobile is increasingly reshaping the retail business with 2.2 hours per day mobile usage per young adult and 80 percent users using net on their mobile while watching TV, he said.
Over the past four years, share of e-commerce transaction over mobile has rose to 29 percent from 7 percent while Cash on Delivery has declined to 16 percent from 31 percent.
“Decreasing data prices and a ubiquitous mobile penetration is driving the always online consumer with attractive online deals and discounts,” said Anurag Mathur, Partner & Leader – Consumer Goods & Retail, PwC Strategy.
Amid the rising online shopping fueled by internet and mobile penetration, the digital disruption has impacted the brick and mortar retail malls, that had seen record supply and absorption in 2011.
Since then there has been a rationalization of supply in recent years. However, the future looks promising with healthy supply pipeline and robust absorption going forward, said Shajai Jacob, Director and Head, Marketing, JLL India.
The two-day conclave also gave indications about increasing amicable relationships between offline and online players with global retail giants like Walmart, Amazon, IKEA showing interest in the Indian growth story.
