Social commerce can spark a new wave of e-commerce in India’s hinterland

India became a global frontrunner in digital adoption and smartphone penetration much before Covid-19 struck the world. The pandemic, however, further accelerated digital adoption across the nation, especially in the tier 2 and tier 3 cities and to some extent the rural region.

During India’s stringent lockdown people were forced to explore online channels for shopping and digital media to stay connected. Along with the surge in gaming and streaming services, e-commerce experienced a boom in the country. Social commerce also witnessed an uptick riding the rising wave of social media interactions. In the aftermath of the pandemic, running an online business became a considerably profitable job with average monthly earnings ranging between Rs. 25,000 – Rs. 30,000.

Thus, Abhinav Jain, Founder and CEO of Shop101, speaking to Entrepreneur, opined that social commerce is democratizing entrepreneurship and paving the way towards a truly Atmanirbhar Bharat. Indeed, social commerce removes all entry barriers and offers and entrepreneurship opportunity to anyone with access to social media.

Social commerce entrepreneurs largely consist of resellers from tier 2 and tier 3 cities, who help small and medium sellers enhance their reach to the digital market and sell their products to a larger consumer base. The products sold through social commerce are usually include local handicrafts, unbranded apparel and general domestic items. It is thus boosting the “vocal for local” drive to a great extent and enabling the deserving people to gain financial independence and social respect.

Studies project that by 2022, about 840 million Indian people will gain access to the internet. Basis this information it can be said that roughly 60% of the Indian population will own smart phones, and hence it can safely be conferred that with an increasing customer base, social commerce in India is poised for a considerable leap in coming years.

Social commerce thrives on locally sourced products and is positively influenced by word of mount on social media or by the daily emerging and ever-growing social influencers. Most significantly, social commerce taps into India’s colossal unorganized market of manufacturers and suppliers in tier 1, 2, 3 and 4 cities. Jain states that their research projects that there are about 50-60 million sellers involved in social commerce pan India.

Considering the number of sellers and manufacturers involved in the social commerce operation and the reach of the channel, one can say that growing social commerce is in the middle of building a very concrete skeleton for digital sales that e-commerce industry can soon capitalize to finally reach the hinterlands of India from the metros and tier 1 cities, where they currently dominate.

Conducting in-depth study of the social commerce business operations will help entrepreneurs and startups to gather valuable insights about these geographies and the consumer behavior and preferences. It will enable enterprises to deploy newer and more suitable strategies to conquer the consumer base, where e-commerce has not been able to garner a substantial following till date.

As and when e-commerce and startups are able to penetrate the most interior regions of the country, not only will they help consumers access a wider array of products but also provide the local businesses with a pan Indian audience that will in turn boost the revenues of MSMEs that are the real engines of the Atmanirbhar Bharat dream.