Chennai: India’s largest etailer by gross merchandise value (GMV) is also world’s largest ecommerce player – Amazon, said a report.
According to a Barclays report, Amazon’s India unit clocked 20 per cent higher gross sales compared to homegrown rival Flipkart, in the year ended 31 March, thereby taking the lead for the first time since it entered the country.
“While Amazon and Flipkart were neck-and-neck on GMV in FY17, Amazon took the clear lead in FY18. The company [Amazon] generated $7.5 billion on GMV versus $6.2 billion for Flipkart, driven by its B2C unit, which continues to grow its lead over Flipkart’s B2C unit,” the Barclays report read.
In May, while announcing the $16 billion deal with Flipkart, Walmart had pegged the consolidated GMV of the Flipkart Group, including its subsidiaries, at $7.5 billion in FY18.
According to Barclay’s, Flipkart has maintained its lead over Amazon in terms of revenue. In FY18, Flipkart posted revenues of $3.7 billion, while Amazon India’s e-commerce revenue stood at $3.1 billion. Amazon’s revenue growth in the previous fiscal stood at 82 per cent against Flipkart’s 47 per cent.
The report added that growth in Amazon India’s sales continues to be higher than that of Flipkart in the current financial year, estimating that the company would touch $11.2 billion in gross sales in FY19.
On the other hand, at its current pace of growth, Flipkart is estimated to close FY19 with gross sales of $8.7 billion.
Moreover, Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenues in India grew by over three times to $192 million in FY18, while Amazon Pay, launched at the end of FY17, saw 53-times growth to rake in $61 million in FY18.
Barclays expects India’s online retail segment to grow two-fold to $40-45 billion by 2020, while the country’s online shopper base is estimated to increase by 100-150 per cent to touch 180-200 million.
In the year so far, Amazon has infused $1 billion into its India business unit, Amazon Seller Services, including Rs 2,700 crore investment in August.
Flipkart, on the other hand, pumped in Rs 3,463 crore in September into its online marketplace, Flipkart Internet.