New Delhi: Amazon, the e-commerce giant, overtook Snapdeal in terms of shipments recorded last month by online marketplace firms, market estimates have revealed, further suggesting that Amazon has emerged as the only major player in the segment to increase its share from where it stood a year ago. As per the estimates, Amazon India's unit market share surged to an estimated 21-24 per cent in March 2016 as compared to 14 per cent recorded in March 2015.
A CEO of a logistics company that handles shipments for online retailers has estimated that Flipkart’s share of shipments fell to 37 per cent in March from 43 per cent in the same month in 2015. Similarly, Snapdeal's share fell to 14-15 per cent from 19 per cent year-on-year, the investor told ET.
Research firms corroborate the claim. "Amazon is very rapidly taking market share from companies like Snapdeal and other smaller players. If there is no new entry, it will be a two-horse race (between Flipkart and Amazon) by the end of the year," he was quoted as saying in the report. "If Flipkart is not able to get its act together in the next 6-12 months, Amazon can overtake Flipkart also," said Satish Meena, a senior analyst with Forrester Research.
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Financial services firm Morgan Stanley expects exponential growth in India's online retail market (including delivery of food and grocery). According to the firm, India’s retail market will grow from the 2015 levels of $16 billion to a market worth $119 billion by 2020. Flipkart in June 2015 claimed that it was aiming to sell goods worth up to $12 billion in a year; Snapdeal claimed better data than Flipkart; and Amazon did not disclose any sales target.
Online retailers shipped 8-9 lakh products a day in March this year, with Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal took over three-fourth of the shipments and ShopClues and Paytm rank next, reports said.
The battle between Flipkart and Amazon has primarily been in electronics, which includes smartphones. But now the action is likely to shift to fashion where Flipkart has acquired Myntra in 2014 and is making significant developments.
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