IBM predict the trends of Online sales will rise upto the double-digit mark in upcoming months.
The digitalisation of payment with online sales is already started after demonetisation in the country. But due to the COVID-19 every news in the market is showing the loss and prediction of upcoming financial crisis in almost all the sector. After that one news is also comes in the market which may some positive aspect that Prashobh Chandralayam, executive director (Retail), Global Bousiness Services, IBM India/South Asia predicts that e- commerce with online sales accounting for over 10% of Indian retail sales in upcoming 12-18 months where current situation is 5%.
“Demonetisation accelerated the adoption of digital payment in India and we expect COVID-19 to do the same thing for online commerce. Presently, 95% of India’s retail sales do happen at stores, and online contribute only 5%. However, we expect this order to change dramatically. Online sales will breach the double-digit mark within the next 12-18 months,” Prashobh Chandralayam, executive director (Retail), Global Business Services, IBM India/South Asia .
Talking about changes in shopping experience, Mr. Chandralayam said since safety and security was going to be the single most important thing, he expected end-to-end digitisation at stores to be mandatory. “Touchless payments to virtual try-on will be the new norm. The perfect combination of digital and physical will define the new shopping experience,” he said. For example, trial rooms at fashion retail outlets will need to have virtual try-on facility with 3D avatars, as customers may not be comfortable trying out any garments in the trial room. He added that customers would also want more information about the product they are buying, to know how genuine the product line is. “The entire product value chain will need to be articulated as part of the product info. Farm to fork and fibre to fashion is what matters. Customers will not shy away from paying extra money for the product information,” he said.
Mr. Chandralayam said that 31% of the world’s GDP is retail and from a digital perspective, 40 petabytes of data is generated every hour in retail. “It’s not just any data, it’s the demand signal for world. Post COVID-19 era, data signals from retail will provide vital clues on the shape of economic recovery,”
