Hyperlocal commerce is taking over the e-commerce industry in India and China.
Asian consumers are used to their local neighbourhood stores, also called mom-and-pop shops. In India, for example, 96% of the commerce still happens there, mainly for trust related issues.
This is why startups as well as large tech companies have invested a lot in hyperlocal commerce, a form of e-commerce which merges offline and online and allow deliveries to be done in minutes instead of days.
The merger of physical and digital experience has proliferated especially into sizable markets such as that of China and India. The term phygital has also surfaced – a blending of physical and digital spaces in marketing ecosystems that redefines the relationship between consumer and brand.
Big names such as Indian phygital e-commerce platform TATACLiQ and Chinese B2B online platform Alibaba are making huge strides in the industry with many others following closely behind.
Recent developments in 2017 are also shaping the hyperlocal commerce industry. They include the US$1.1 billion funding of Alibaba’s local commerce platform Koubei and the launch of BingoBox’s fully automated convenience stores throughout China.
Get an overview of the hyperlocal and mobile commerce market in India and China with our infographic:
