India is the world’s fifth-largest global destination in the retail space.  India ranked 73 in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s Business-to-Consumer (B2C)            E-commerce Index, India is the world’s fifth largest global destination in the retail space and ranked 63 in World Bank’s Doing Business. 


Market Size:  Retail industry reached US$ 950 billion at CAGR of 13 per cent and is expected to reach US$ 1.1 trillion by 2020. Online retail sales were forecast to grow 31 per cent y-o-y to reach US$ 32.70 billion. Revenue generated from online retail is projected to reach US$ 60 billion by 2020.  Revenue of India’s offline retailers, also known as brick and mortar (B&M) retailers, is expected to increase by Rs 10,000-12,000 crore (US$ 1.39-2.77 billion) in FY20.  India is expected to become the world’s fastest growing     E-commerce market, driven by robust investment in the sector and rapid increase in the number of internet users. Various agencies have high expectations about growth of India’s E-commerce market.

 

Covid-19 continues to change the landscape of 2020 at a rapid pace. The number of people thought safe to gather in a single place seems to change as soon as we adapt to our new parameters – dwindling from 1000 to 10. Overnight, shopping behavior shifted dramatically, shoppers have changed both what and how they are making purchases. Consumers have responded by stocking up and panic buying on a myriad of items, including but not limited to: groceries, toilet paper and medical supplies. Stores, and online stores alike, were unable to keep up with the demand; it is no surprise that medical supplies saw a 500% increase in online shopping. The face mask, shopped online and in-store, is now pervasive in major cities across the world, with still more and more every day mandating that it be worn. 

 

Humans respond to crises in different ways. When faced with dangerous and uncertain times, when people are under a perceived threat it impacts everything from interpersonal relationships to how we choose our purchases. ‘Retail therapy’ is such an attempt to try to gain control of an uncertain situation, however, in a pandemic; there are additional layers to this reaction. As society has embraced social distancing as a way to slow the spread of the pandemic, there has been a natural decline in ‘brick-and-mortar’ shopping and an increase in online shopping. 

 

The Israeli company: Forter, is a SaaS-based enterprise that provides fraud-detection services to online merchants and has responded to Covid-19’s effects on eCommerce by introducing the Smart Routing tool. 

 

Donde is one such example, an Israeli based company that focuses on ways to improve online retail UX (User Experience). Donde is a platform that enhances the customers’ online shopping experience by utilizing artificial intelligence to think like the shopper and display results that they have in mind. 

 

Freightos, is an Israeli company that provides an online marketplace for the trillion-dollar shipping industry, their marketplace enables importers and exporters to reduce their logistics spend and save time with instant comparison, booking, and management. 
Variety seeking behaviour in consumers is a form of control, it allows shoppers to increase self-esteem by making their own (seemingly) random consumption choices. This, in turn, allows consumers to exert a level of perceived independence in the face of their increasingly uncontrollable environment. 

The global retail industry has already long been undergoing a significant shift to the virtual eCommerce space. The unprecedented record spike of eCommerce presence and usage in 2020 seems to be a real turning point, given social changes and limitations, which have dramatically reshaped consumer behaviour.

 

Israeli retail technology is at the forefront of this tectonic change for it enables the advanced and rapidly growing virtual shopping experience, which increases productivity and efficiency, providing confidence, safeguards and superior customer experiences. All of these elements are happening as the retail industry matures and gains exposure to even more connected potential customers. These customers are then increasingly exposed to online shopping opportunities, which are powered by the effects of digital technology change implemented for the retail industry. 

 

Relevant companies, interested to learn more on Israel innovative technology are invited to contact the Trade and Economic Department at the Israeli Consulate General in Bengaluru.

For further queries:
contact: Kavitha Saravanan, Trade Officer, Trade and Economic Mission
Tel: +91-80-49406515, Email: kavithas@israeltrade.gov.il