Indian shoppers spent 20% more on orders from marketplaces in 2023: Study

Marketplaces continue to strengthen their position and increase sales globally. In 2023, the amount shoppers spent on orders from marketplaces grew by 7% globally and by more than 20% in India. This year, shoppers significantly increased purchases from the categories of toys, goods for mothers and auto parts.

Admitad partner network analysed more than 120 million orders from marketplaces worldwide and more than 6 million orders in India to understand the changes in the industry in 2023. The study includes statistics from more than 150 marketplaces, including both global companies like Alibaba and Amazon and leading Indian marketplaces like Flipkart, Myntra, Nykaa and Ajio.

The largest number of orders were made by residents of Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Patna, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwahati.

Despite the challenges of the global economy, the e-commerce industry continues to grow, and along with it, its brightest representatives - marketplaces - are developing. Having received a powerful growth impetus during the pandemic, they keep developing success due to new factors.

Marketplaces are working with mobile traffic and are able to take full advantage of the trend. The global share of mobile orders in all purchases from marketplaces increased from 22% to 34%. In India, the growth was also rapid - from 15% to 24%.

Neha Kulwal, Managing Director, APAC and India, Mitgo, said, “The sales growth was also significantly influenced by various marketing support measures that marketplaces offer to brands that sell their goods through them. For example, Amazon Marketing Services continued to grow strongly in 2023, and many local marketplaces in India also apply similar methods to help brands on the site to maximize sales, and thus the profit of the marketplace itself.”

Indian buyers became more interested in toys, goods for mothers and car parts

In 2023, the average order value of a purchase from a marketplace in the world was 23 USD, in India it was slightly less - 16 USD (grew by 6,4% YoY).

According to Admitad’s estimates, globally, users' interests over the last year have been mostly divided between fashion (24%), electronics (17.1%), home and garden goods (13.4%), beauty products (7%), toys and hobby goods (4.8%), car parts (4%) and sport goods (3.6%). Compared to the previous year, the share of sales in the fashion and Home & Garden categories decreased significantly. However, Tools (3%) and Lights & Lightning (2.5%) moved closer to the top positions.

In India, the top categories look similar, but there are still significant differences - for example, the unconditional dominance of fashion purchases: clothes, accessories, shoes, watches.

Top product categories by their share in the total number of marketplace sales, 2023

Fashion - 31,4%

Home & Garden - 20%

Mother & Kids - 12,5%

Electronics - 11,5%

Beauty products - 7,6%

Toys & Hobbies - 3,5%

Lights & Lighting - 2,8%

Car parts - 2,7%

Sport goods - 2%

Others - 6%

Some categories showed the record-breaking pace of growth in number of orders in India:

Toys & Hobbies +32%

Mother & Kids +29%

Car parts +27%

Lights & Lighting +26%

Sports & Entertainment +24%

Tools +21%

Coupons and affiliate stores became more effective

Users continue to actively use cashback options when shopping on marketplaces - as in the previous year, in 2023 cashback services accounted for up to a third of all purchases attracted. Content marketplaces, affiliate stores, coupon services, contextual ads, social networks and mobile apps were the next most effective globally.

In 2023, there was a 17% increase in sales through affiliate stores, which aggregate offers of goods and services from different brands' websites and trading platforms and create thematic product feeds. Marketplace sales through coupon services also grew by more than 10%.

According to Admitad, cashback services were also effective in India, where users used them in 22% of all orders made. Content sites (17,5%), coupon services (13%), mobile apps (12,6%) affiliate stores (12%), social networks (10%), and loyalty programs (7,3%) were the next most effective in attracting sales for marketplaces. Loyalty programs and affiliate stores demonstrated the record growth of marketplace sales in the country - the number of orders through them increased by more than 30% and 25% respectively.

More and more marketplaces are also turning to affiliate marketing to accelerate sales growth. The number of partners willing to attract orders for a reward from advertisers is also growing. In 2023, their number in India increased by 12% and the sum of their profits by 18%.

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