Logging On To The Growth Cart

Not less than 88 million users, a cumulative order value of $8.3 billion, and a share of 66 per cent growth over the previous festive season. That’s e-commerce in an India shuddering out of the Covid freeze in 2020. What had begun with the system of dropping an account payee cheque in a nondescript little tin box put up in front of a shop and waiting for a book to be delivered at your doorstep after at least 15 days back in early 2000s, has now evolved into a $88 billion market with a potential to surpass $200 billion in the next five years. The growth of e-commerce in India, averaging 35 per cent annually, never seemed to turn into a reality when Supam Maheshwari launched Firstcry.com way back in 2010 with a seed money of Rs 2.5 crore. The business model was simple: setting up a platform for new parents to source better quality products for their babies from abroad. Eleven years...