2018年CRI India's e-commerce on the rise

 

India's e-commerce sector¹ is on the rise. Given the country's large population and the fact that more and more Indians are getting access to the Internet, investors³ are keenly eyeing the opportunities.

American retailer⁵ Walmart is among those looking to grab a deal in India's online shopping industry.

Our correspondent Rebecca Bundhun reports from Mumbai.

India's e-commerce industry is attracting a flurry of global interest.

US retail⁴ giant Walmart is understood to be in talks to invest billions of dollars to snap up Bangalore-based Flipkart, the country's homegrown answer to Amazon.

Meanwhile, Softbank is injecting $400 million into India's online retailer Paytm Mall, while China's Alibaba, already an investor² is pumping another $45 million into the company.

Suhail Nathani, the managing director of Mumbai based corporate⁶ law firm Economic laws Practice says the opportunity for growth in the country's nascent⁷ e-commerce industry is enormous.

"The story in India is true for e-commerce as it is for the brick and mortar⁸ business, which is just the story of consumption. You have a billion people, half of whom are aspirational⁹ in everything they do, they want a better life, better access, better products. For many large companies it's a very important market and a must-win market."

Investment bank Morgan Stanley forecasts that India's e-commerce sector should grow by 30 per cent a year to reach a gross merchandise value of 200 billion US dollars by 2026.

Rising internet use as smartphones and data get cheaper are helping¹⁰ drive this trend.

Krsnaa Mehta was the third generation in his family's textiles business in Mumbai. But he realised going online was the way forward when he launched a venture called India Circus to sell his design products in 2012.

But it is a tough business, he explains. E-commerce firms go through a lot of cash and there are many players in India that haven't survived.

"Still everyday's a new learning, because it's all about targeting, about understanding who's going to buy our product and getting the ads out there to them, so it's not cheap to run an e-commerce business.

Despite the rapid growth of online shopping, Indians are still heavily dependent on brick and mortar stores. Morgan Stanley's data shows that Online sales only accounted for 2 per cent of retail sales in the country in the financial year to the end of March 2017.

But shoppers in India are warming up to buying online.

"I am a person who does look at online but I prefer to choose after wearing it, after seeing the colours, how does it suit me, so I generally go to the shops to do my shopping.

"If it's groceries or something like that I do it online, and one more thing online is you get a lot of discounts."

There's still a way to go for India, Suhail Nathani says.

"Companies that have got the basic model right have been able to scale up very rapidly. The question that always comes to my mind is how you make them internationally e-commerce companies. The Alibabas and the Amazons have not yet emerged in India and what will it take for us to scale up globally?"

The e-commerce story in India is one to watch.

For China Radio International, I'm Rebecca Bundhun in Mumbai

1 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

2 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

3 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

4 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

5 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。

6 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

7 nascent   

adj.初生的，发生中的

参考例句：

• That slim book showed the Chinese intelligentsia and the nascent working class.那本小册子讲述了中国的知识界和新兴的工人阶级。
• Despite a nascent democracy movement,there's little traction for direct suffrage.尽管有过一次新生的民主运动，但几乎不会带来直接选举。

8 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

9 aspirational   

志同的，有抱负的

参考例句：

• Most of the images that bombard us all are aspirational. 轰击的图像，我们都期望最大。
• Analysts said self-help and aspirational reading could explain India's high figures. 分析师们指出，自助读书、热爱读书是印度人均读书时间超过别的国家的主要原因。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。