Forbes India presents Democratising E-commerce powered by GoKwik

We live in an era where digitisation is driving transformation across industries and e-commerce is no exception. According to a report by FICCI, the Indian e-commerce market is expected to reach $350 billion by 2030.

With the evolution of the internet, ease of access in shopping and the deep development of unique tech-enabled models to drive conversions, the e-commerce revolution has been prominent in India. As the e-commerce market continues to evolve, there is one sector that has been seeing tremendous growth, the consumer electronics segment.  

The Indian consumer electronics market size was valued at a whopping $71.17 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR rate of 6.5% from 2022 to 2027. With the rise of e-commerce enablers offering tech support in enhancing customer experience, boosting profitability and curbing return losses, this number is only expected to grow as we progress.

How are these segments evolving? What are the challenges D2C brands face? What can these brands do to enhance customer experience? What are the strategies they put into action to sail through?

Forbes India and GoKwik have organised a series of roundtable discussions to discuss topics like this and more.

In a conversation moderated by Manu Balachandran, Gaurav Khatri, Co-Founder and CEO of Noise, and Chirag Taneja, Co-Founder and CEO of GoKwik discuss the evolution of consumer electronics in the D2C market.

Consumer electronics is showing several promises and, of course, high competition. How did Noise become one of the leading electronic wearable brands in India? Talking about this Gaurav Khatri said, "A few years back not many people believed that consumer electronics brands could be in the D2C space. Everyone was ruling us out because of the global giant. However, the last few years have been really good for Noise because of the consumer-centricity that we have kept. We have been trying to stay close to our consumers, understanding what's happening in the market, how consumer behaviour is changing, etc. We have seen it very closely pre-COVID vs. how it has changed post-COVID. Consumer centricity and the R&D tech innovation place that Noise has been able to solve for the masses of the country and co-creating products has helped."

For the last eight consecutive quarters, Noise is the number-one smartwatch brand in India. Talking about the evolution of the D2C space and the segments seeing immense growth, Chirag said, "I come from a world where I used to run Bombay Shaving Company in 2019. At that time, there were at least two camps that said that D2C in India will not exist as it doesn't exist in China.

People now believe e-commerce in India will happen outside Amazon and Flipkart too. India is a heterogenous country and even if Amazon and Flipkart wanted to cater to the market, they would not be able to due to the sheer nature of the market. In terms of segments electronics and wearables still continues to grow and are under-penetrated."
The wearables industry is still in a very nascent stage in the country. Until last year, smartwatches were sold at a 2% penetration of smartphones. Other countries like USA and China have a penetration rate of 15-20%. However, the kind of age the Indian population will have higher penetration than in any other country.

To hear the full conversation, you can check this link: https://youtu.be/3pghJNz1qEY

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