India@100 summit: Digitisation will impact Indian consumption in a big way. Here's why

India’s consumer story is incomplete without embracing digital technologies. India today has around 600 million internet users in the country, close to 200-250 million of which shop online. “Next wave is all about the rest of them also shopping online, and that consumption is being driven by the entire ecosystem coming together,” Nandita Sinha, CEO, Myntra said in a panel titled ‘Consumer@100: retail, e-commerce, entertainment’ at Business Today’s India@100 summit in New Delhi.

Sinha added that digitisation is influencing consumption in a big way. “Expansion of geographies in Tier 2 and 3 is a big trend going forward. We will have the largest population of Gen Z consumers and they will shape the new innovation which all of us will be forced to lead or adopt going forward,” she said.

Physical retail operators, too, reckon that digital is a big opportunity going forward, especially in smaller towns and cities. “India is a nuclear bomb with its young which is more than 50 per cent of the population. We’re about to blast as soon as our per capita income goes up by 20 per cent. Largely V-Mart operates in value fashion across small towns; we’ve seen small town’s people aspiration is very high. That’s the real Bharat which is 70 per cent of India and when that starts consuming, even if their aspirations are high, they’re not able to manage,” Lalit Aggarwal, MD, V-Mart Retail said.

“Culturally, India is not used to taking debt and consuming, they consume only when they have money. Urbanization is improving as infrastructure is growing up and we’re seeing more and more positive news coming up in terms of technological, digital and omni-channel adoption,” he adds.

Arvind Singhal, founder and chairman of Technopark Advisors, believes that India will be a $7.5 trillion economy by 2032. “We’re looking at a delta of $1 trillion of additional consumer spending. That’s a game changer. The most transformational part about Indian will be digial; 4G/5G is an enabler. From product discovery to delivery, if your entire pathway is digital, minus the physical logistics part of it, I think that’s going to be a big transformation, it’s going to impact all retailers,” he said.

The pace of growth is so quick that Neeraj Garg, CEO, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, feels that in the next four years, we’re going to achieve what we’ve done in last 25 years. “Skills capability and mindsets are changing. Weve talked about being an arm’s length away. We’re now going to be talking about being available a click away. It requires a completely different business models. We need to be ready for omni-channel,” he adds.

Both physical and digital-led companies in India today believe that focus on omni-channel growth is imperative. “As a brand you have to be where the consumer is. The consumer is now most-definitely online. Not just the aspirations of consumers have changed but the aspirations of brands that are operating in this marker are changing. That’s really where I see the trend go. That’s one of the biggest shifts in this decade,” Naiyya Saggi, co-founder, The Good Glamm Group, said.

On the entertainment front, OTT (over the top) platforms are already redefining and transforming the way India watched regional, national and international content. OTT players believe that digitization has helped grow the industry, from a content, creator and consumer perspective. “Streaming industry has had a fantastic 5-7 years. Biggest change happening at a consumer level is that they have too much choice from both local and international platforms. Then, the linguistic pallet of the consumer is also expanding. There’s a multiplier impact at play. On the creator side, the opportunity is tremendous,” Gaurav Gandhi, country head, Amazon Prime Video India said.

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