However, the offline market will continue to be the bigger market, with a total value of $1,605 billion in 2030. Its size was $860 billion last year.

In online, social commerce is expected to be the biggest contributor, accounting for $55 billion out of $325 billion, followed by quick commerce at $40 billion and direct-to-customer (D2C) at $20 billion.

In the offline market, traditional channels are projected to account for $1,375 billion out of $1,605 billion.

The report, titled ‘Future of Retail’, attributes the substantial shift in India’s online market in the last five years to "ease of ordering and returns, a robust logistics infrastructure covering over 19,000 pin codes, a digitally savvy consumer base of 220 million online shoppers, and substantial investments from private equity and venture capital firms totalling $23 billion".

"The rapid growth of e-commerce in tier-2 and 3 cities is reshaping the retail landscape. In 2022, these cities accounted for over 60 per cent of the total orders, outpacing tier-1 markets. Tier-3 cities experienced a 65 per cent order volume growth, tier-2 cities witnessed a 50 per cent growth, while tier-1 cities saw 10 per cent growth," the report added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)