Going back 15 years from now, commerce was mainly restricted to brick and motor stores at the local level. In the recent decade, e-commerce has seen its boom in India like never before. While this e-commerce boom has many advantages, we cannot really ignore its negative impacts on local commerce.
Biggies like Amazon and Flipkart has spent a fortune to gain it’s lead in the online market by adopting loss leadership and on wide scale promotion of these marketplaces. While this has helped them grow as a business, it has also negatively impacted the local businesses with limited funding and resources. A recent report suggests that two major e-commerce marketplaces accounts for more than 30% of all the smartphones sold in India in 2019 and this has resulted in a 40% decline in sales of local cell phone stores over the years.
Local commerce provides livelihood to more than 10 million Indians and this industry has not recorded any major growth in the past few years. As a society, we often talk about #swadeshi and #aatmanirvhar but our purchase behaviour has indicated otherwise.
Over these years, we as consumers have been habituated to make purchases by a click of a button and receive the delivery at our doorstep. While all is well for these e-commerce companies, it is the local and small businesses that has to bear it’s brunt.
For small and local businesses making the jump to online is a difficult choice as it involves heavy cost and requirement of specialized skillset.
The biggest draw right now for having an online store for local shops is that it gives them an opportunity to connect with the locals that they have lost.
The unprecedented wave of online shopping has led us to develop an online e-commerce marketplace for local businesses. Introducing, Nearli Business an app that brings your local shop online and provides you with an opportunity to sell products online to local customers and grow your business.
