It’s no secret that ecommerce continues to grow. However, when we think about ecommerce, we generally think of the United States and China (ex: Alibaba) as being the big players in the international ecommerce industry.
While the United States and China may have a large share of ecommerce sales, there is drastic growth in the emerging markets. Just take India and Russia, for example.
India
As the second most populated country in the world, it’s no surprise that India has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Although ecommerce in India has been slow to get moving due to government regulations and a lack of available Internet, the younger and more tech-savvy (under 35) demographic is drastically increasing their earning power and purchasing online.
Since 2012, ecommerce spending in India has increased by 88 percent, and this leads to predictions that the Indian ecommerce market will explode within the next ten years – projected to be worth $56 billion by 2023.
Russia
According to a recent report, Russia will be another up-and-coming key player in the ecommerce market. It ranked fifth in ecommerce growth worldwide last year, with online sales expected to increase to $38 billion by 2018.
Given the absence of a middle class and the fact that many citizens do not have credit cards, it may seem surprising that Russia could have such ecommerce possibilities. Despite these obstacles, a recent study showed that the market is still growing at an impressive 20 percent year-over-year.
The ecommerce market in Russia is composed primarily of small online businesses that make less than $100K a year. So, who are the Russian online shoppers? Similar to ecommerce consumers in India, the shoppers are young, educated and have higher incomes than the average citizens.
While the Indian and Russian ecommerce markets still have a long way to go, they definitely have the potential to be big players. Not to mention they offer new and appealing customers for small businesses based in the United States.