Global e-commerce industry generates over $1.2 mn revenue every 30 seconds: study

The global e-commerce industry generated over $1.2 million revenue every 30 seconds with Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter contributing $5,483, $4,504 and $4,308 respectively, according to an Assocham-Deloitte joint study.

Social networks are making a significant contribution to the growth of e-commerce business revenue. With the reach of social media across masses and classes the networks had evolved as a convenient platform for online sales, the study which was released yesterday said.

Social media pages offer information regarding new products in the market, user reviews and product ratings, recommendations, and information technology (IT) products.

"Social media also helps e-tailers build brand awareness by responding to customer queries. Seasonal sales and offers are displayed on social networks to reach maximum number of people.

"E-tailers have even started to motivate customers with reward points to provide feedback on the product on social networks," said D S Rawat, Assocham secretary general.

Analysts point out that social networks increasingly had direct links to e-commerce sites, that provided complete product description, availability status, pricing and delivery information, as also access to product reviews and ratings, all of which helped prospective buyers to make a purchase.

According to analysts, product reviews and ratings, as also product recommendations, were the most popular social commerce features integrated into leading e-commerce sites.

"Social networks have direct links to e-commerce sites, which provide complete product description, availability status, pricing and delivery information, and access to product reviews and ratings, all of which help prospective buyers to make a purchase," the study pointed out.

Also, payment gateways helped the e-tailers receive money instantly rather than waiting for the Cash on Delivery payments, thus reducing chances of theft and fraud, it said.

The retailers were now moving towards payment gateways for improved security and dealings with other complexities arising from financial transactions. Banks as also the e-tailers were offering incentives like cashback, Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) to encourage customers to make payments through cards.

Further the availability of e-commerce apps on mobile devices was helping drive sales and revenue and e-tailers like Flipkart, Amazon and Jabong now received 50 per cent of their revenues from consumers shopping on their mobile phones, the study added.

In March Google India said in March increasing internet penetration and growing preference for online shopping is expected to help the online fashion retail market in India touch $35 billion by 2020 (See: Online fashion retail in India to hit $35 bn by 2020: Google).