Yesterday’s Economic Times had a front page story entitled “India’s e-commerce industry braces for consolidation as stronger online retailers gobble up minnows”:
With the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon, preparing for entry into India and the market separating the strong from the weak, India’s best-known and stronger online retailers are taking the lead in the consolidation race.
…For the approximately 10 million Indian e-commerce consumers, there has been a growing choice of online stores that sell everything from books to travel experiences. But behind the scenes, e-commerce start-ups-around 40 active ones at last count-are battling price wars and high customer acquisition costs.
Leaders in the e-commerce space-ones that have raised money, have large teams and are aggressively pursuing growth-are spending $1-2 million (Rs 5-10 crore) a month, including on marketing, overheads and salaries.
Consolidation is also being hastened by the inability of smaller firms to raise money at the valuation levels they commanded even last year.
Continued tomorrow.
