The Indian eCommerce industry witnessed new heights in 2020, ever since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, it has continued to grow, as consumers feel that purchasing online is the safest and most convenient shopping medium.
 

A report by Shopify says that 86% of Indians adopted online shopping during the pandemic, thus signifying an accelerated adoption of eCommerce across different age groups. With this massive change that the pandemic has brought about in the eCommerce landscape came a shift in consumer behavior and expectations.
 
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Understanding this shift in consumer expectations becomes a little easier once we know the evolution of eCommerce and E-retail in India. E-retail has emerged as a boon to millions of shoppers across India driving deeper penetration of online commerce and improved convenience.
 
E-retail has revolutionized and democratized online shopping by providing access to more than 95% of India’s pin codes. After all, it empowered the small retailers and micro-entrepreneurs to break the go-to-market barriers, thus providing earning opportunities to millions. Consumers from tier-2 and tier-3 cities and towns adopted online shopping, thanks to the eCommerce giant Amazon and some other popular web apps such as Ajio, Myntra, Tata Cliq, and Flipkart.
 
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So, a detailed understanding of the consumer shopping journey, from the discovery of the product to the purchase, forms the basis of e-retail/eCommerce business success for the leading digital brands.
 
Here are some of the major expectations of online shoppers in India:

• Make an impression. For online shoppers nowadays, a couple of things that matter the most are first impression and loading time. Online shoppers browse 10 product pages before making a purchase decision. So, eCommerce brands have only a couple of minutes to tell their stories and entice the users. So, seamless user experience and images are key.

 

• Adopt voice and regional language. Nowadays, adopting your website or mobile apps to voice a search is no longer an option but mandatory if you want to thrive in the competition. Apart from that, you must implement regional language to your apps and website for deeper penetration of online shopping. It is fast becoming a must-have for even the mainstream.

 
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• Improve store search functionality. You should remember that wherever possible, you need to make it easy for online shoppers to find various products on your site or app. Also, you need to give them an excellent user experience to stay ahead of your competition. Hence, the search functionality within site is crucial. Enable your users to find your products easily apart from the one they have come for.

 

• Check on the influencers. Social media influencers nowadays have a crucial impact on purchase decisions. It is observed that at least 40% of online shoppers make at least one purchase through social media channels. Consumers have become smarter by the day and usually, look at peer reviews or influencer comments before deciding to buy a product.

 

• Digital payment options. Earlier online shoppers used to be apprehensive about online payments and preferred to pay cash after delivery. However, with digital technology advancements and the accelerated adoption of digital payments, online payment options are a must-have facility for your online store. It is also applicable due to the increasing adoption of the usage of credit.

 

• Faster delivery. With the accelerated pace of the adoption of online shopping across the length and breadth of the country, consumer expectations on delivery have risen. While earlier online shoppers were fine with the delivery of a product in 4-5 days, nowadays they expect a delivery within a day or two. With its ‘Prime’ delivery, the eCommerce giant Amazon plays a crucial role in the increasing demand for faster delivery.

 
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• Omnichannel commerce. Consumers nowadays are not limited to only one channel of communication, and neither do they always browse products and purchase from one online channel. They often frequent online and offline channels and expect you to deliver them a seamless experience at all the touchpoints. Such seamless experience can be the key factor between your brand’s gaining or losing some consumers.

 

To sum it up, it is evident that there is a major paradigm shift in what the online consumers in India expect from E-retailers and eCommerce brands. After all, with 140 million e-retail shoppers in 2020, India has emerged as the third-largest online shopper base globally, after the US and China. eCommerce brands and E-retailers should “pull their socks up” and start strategizing to lure customers as per the base’s needs and demands.
 
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Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Los Angeles, California, XPDEL recently launched its expert fulfillment services in India. Our advanced eCommerce Fulfillment Technology Platform has made it effortless for XPDEL’s clients to integrate and improve speed to market. Our offerings cater to a wide range of customer experience-based fulfillment and logistics solutions for eCommerce, powered by industry-leading technology platforms. Our partnership with eCommerce brands enables them with advanced technological facilities with real-time data and actionable insights in our dashboard.