Author: Dan Gendro

Gartner report shows the growth of India’s digital commerce market

India is quickly becoming one of the world’s leading mobile commerce markets. Overall, digital commerce is growing quickly throughout the country, with consumers beginning to favor shopping online rather than visit physical stores. This is due to the convenient nature of e-commerce, and more consumers are beginning to rely on their mobile devices to get their shopping done. A new report from Gartner highlights the growing power of the digital commerce market in India.

More consumers are beginning to use their mobile devices to shop online

According to the report from Gartner, the Indian digital commerce market has reached $7 billion. While digital commerce represents less than one percent of total retail sales in the country, this market is growing very quickly. The market is still in a nascent stage in India, with relatively low Internet penetration slowing the adoption of online shopping. The market has grown by 40% year on year, with business to business commerce leading the way. Notably, mobile commerce is the primary channel powering the growth of the market.

Low Internet penetration is slowing the adoption of mobile commerce

Consumers appear to favor shopping with their smartphones and tablets, as they can get their shopping done no matter where they are in the country. In 2014, more than 40% of all digital commerce transactions came from mobile devices. By the end of this year, more than half of these transactions are expected to come from smartphones and tablets, according to Gartner. The convenient nature of mobile commerce is one of its most attractive features, and more retailers are beginning to embrace the mobile space in order to effectively connect with consumers.

Retailers are embracing the mobile world

As mobile commerce continues to grow, retailers are likely to become more mobile-centric, offering new services to online shoppers. Financial institutions are also embracing the mobile space, introducing new applications that allow consumers to manage their finances with their mobile devices. India is expected to become one of the most prominent mobile commerce markets in the world in the coming years.

According to a recent report, device users aren’t necessarily confident in this form of storage.

Cyber and mobile security and app delivery solutions firm, Radware, has recently released a report called “Mobile Application Security: Consumer Perspectives and Organizational Implications,” in which it was revealed that the cloud isn’t exactly eliciting feelings of confidence from consumers.

Harris Poll conducted the online survey on behalf of Radware and involved the participation of 2,000 American consumers.

The survey was geared toward the opinions of adults in the United States with regards to the mobile security of cloud-based apps and service and the way they’re used. It was determined that it is not uncommon for consumers to be unaware of the fact that many of the mobile apps they use on a regular basis are dependent on the cloud. This means that they are also unaware of the potential threat they face to their personal information if the cloud storage was ever breached.

This lack of understanding of mobile security could be considered troubling simply because it may reduce protection efforts.

Among the participants in the study, 67 percent said that they were not using cloud-based mobile apps. That said, applications that use the cloud are rapidly growing in their popularity and usage. At the same time, 87 percent of Americans feel that cloud based apps are at risk of being hacked. Another 58 percent of cloud based service or application users said that they were concerned about the safety of their personal data if those apps or services should ever experience a cyber attack.

According to Radware director of security solutions marketing, Ben Desjardins, “Data breaches and hacks are not only on the rise, they are becoming commonplace.” He added that “At the same time, cloud-based apps are booming, offering convenient ways to expedite and simplify daily needs from ordering a meal to requesting a car with the tap of a finger.”

Desjardins explained that the majority of consumers don’t actually understand their relationship with cloud based applications. Therefore, it will be up to the companies that are working to engage with mobile device users by way of those applications to bear the burden of mobile security education as well as of remediation if they should ever experience a cyber attack in which any personal information could be threatened.