Indians Online Spends To Reach 8.75 L Cr In 2018: Report

NEW DELHI: Total online spend by Indian consumers on domestic and cross-border purchases is expected to touch 8,75,600 crore in 2018, a report by payment platform PayPal said on Thursday.

This is against an online spend of 4,92,500 crore in 2016, the third Annual Global Cross-Border Consumer Research 2016 said.

Also, Indian online shoppers are estimated to have spent 58,370 crore on shopping from other countries in 2016, the report added.

"The internet has truly democratised cross-border trade. The freelance economy has grown in India and a considerable number of Indians shop in the global marketplace," PayPal India Managing Director Anupam Pahuja said.

Leading categories for which Indians shopped online across the border include clothing/apparel, footwear, accessories (bought by 54 pct of cross-border shoppers from a website in another country in the past 12 months).

Consumer electronics (43 pct) and cosmetics and beauty products (42 pct) followed by the list.

The US (14 pct) ranked as the top country from where Indians had shopped from, followed by the UK (6 pct) and China (5 pct).

The report found that free shipping (42 pct), local currency payment (42 pct), proof of product authenticity (41 pct) and secure way to pay (40 pct) were among the key drivers to make online shoppers more likely to shop from websites in other countries.

The study evaluated online and cross-border shopping behaviour of over 28,000 consumers across 32 countries, including 800 interviews in India.

'Cart abandonment' emerged as a key issue on cross-border shopping, with 51 pct of the respondents claiming to have abandoned an online purchase from a website in another country.

Reasons for cross-border cart abandonment include shipping charges being high (38 pct), long delivery period (31 pct), expensive returns (26 pct) and having to pay using another currency (24 pct).

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