India’s e-commerce sector is growing rapidly, especially after the outbreak of COVID-19. However, a recent survey by CUTS Institute for Regulation and Competition (CIRC), says that 71 per cent of small sellers are unaware of any government policy that regulates the e-commerce sector.
The survey suggests it’s high time to make small sellers aware of the e-commerce landscape, which includes e-commerce onboarding, e-commerce policies in India and their rights.
Currently, India has no single piece of legislation to address e-commerce issues. The existing laws are fragmented into different rules, acts, and policies such as the Consumer Protection Act, FDI Laws, and Personal Data Protection Bill. This might change this year as the government is working on a revised draft of a national e-commerce policy and rules that focus on introducing an e-commerce regulator. This might come into effect this year. According to the survey, the e-commerce industry will flourish if the policy offers ease of doing business and reduces the compliance burden.
The survey was conducted among 14 small sellers and 331 consumers. The sellers expect means to check product plagiarism and want to revise the return policy to reduce losses to sellers. It is because sometimes, customers return the product after using it for a few days. This incurs a loss, especially if the item is a customised one.
For the majority of sellers, online sales account for about 85 per cent of the total sales. Some have said that their online customer base is larger than their offline base and the discounts given during the festive seasons generate more sales.
In terms of consumers, 83.08 per cent of respondents reported that they get more deals and discounts online as compared to offline retail stores. About 79.46 per cent said that they find online reviews about the products useful while shopping online.
