Big retail groups foray into Indian online retail space

The Indian e-tail market is poised to reach nearly 300 million to 350 million shoppers over the next five years. Covid outbreak has exacerbated the consumers' need for safety and convenience, leading to a spike in e-commerce sales.

The Tata Group will pick up a 68 per cent stake in online grocery store BigBasket. Tata's foray into the e-commerce space is a testimony to the ever expanding e-tail pie in India and now even large conglomerates want a share of it. Online retail has in general three sets of players. First the homegrown founders who started the trend. Second, global majors like Amazon and Flipkart and then the Indian majors who are just foraying like Reliance. It is great news for consumers because there are so many choices. It is the single biggest opportunity today for large companies looking into building a portfolio of new businesses in food and grocery. This cannot be done in fashion or in any other category.

There is a deeper recognition by larger businesses and conglomerates that the future of really distributing consumer products lies in a fully conversed omnichannel model.