The next 100 Mn online shoppers poised to come from the smaller cities of India and likely to have very different behaviour and needs vs the current group of shoppers. E-commerce platforms that tap into the social element are widely touted as the next big engine that will target this emerging group of users and drive e-tailing growth, from the current USD 24 Bn annually (CY18) to ~USD 90+ Bn by CY23.

Social commerce platforms like Dealshare, Mall18 and others have emerged that tap into the above market opportunity. They are often very hyperlocal in nature and work by sharing deals over WhatsApp. RedSeer conducted a study on users of one of these platforms to understand their satisfaction.

Some key observations from the above analysis-

• Dealsharing models have been able to create a high level of initial customer satisfaction- With an NPS score of more than 50%, these platforms has been able to create a high level of customer satisfaction amongst initial adopters. This NPS is much higher than the figure for horizontal e-tailers and online grocery platforms and is an important metrics since these platforms work on referral basis. Customers like the quality and width of the product offering along with the ability to access high discounts
• For next wave of growth and for mass adoption, players need to improve on service levels- While customers were happy with the product and pricing, there seems to be a need for improvement in delivery experience and customer service. Improving on these parameters will be crucial to bringing on board the next wave of customers for these platforms