Tech looks out for tier 2-3 cities as they shop more online than tier 1 cities

Tier 2-3 cities in India are shopping more online than tier 1 cities in India, paving the way for more opportunities and business in ecommerce. They are looking to tech to take their businesses to new heights

A recent ICICI Securities report revelaed that the growth of e-commerce volumes in tier 2-3 cities in India is surpassing that of tier-1 cities. The market share of smaller cities in the Indian e-commerce market has hiked up to 46% in the fourth quarter of 2020 from 32%. In addition, online spending from each customer in these cities has gone up from 26% to 43%.

We can expect a slew of businesses to open up in smaller cities, places that have been ignored for decades now. And these businesses can leverage the power of tech to push success

“Smaller Indian cities are now accounting for a bigger volume of e-commerce sales. E-commerce growth in tier 2 and tier 3 cities in India is outpacing that of tier 1 cities,” said the report, as ET published.

This indicates that we can expect a slew of businesses to open up in smaller cities, places that have been ignored for decades now. And these businesses can leverage the power of tech to push success. The time for tier2-3 cities to shine is here. Cities like Udupi, Kanpur, Shillong, Dhanbad can hope to earn more, which in turn is likely boost infrastructure as well.

Recently, eSamudaay, the local commerce (LCommerce) platform that offers to organize the commerce of a location and assists the sellers and buyers in Tier 2 and 3 cities of India to establish connections on a Local Commerce ecosystem, recently announced its transformation to a Super App framework.

This means local ecommerce entrepreneurs can launch local Super Apps exclusively for local communities. They can offer a gamut of services like grocery, kitchen supplies, apparel, services like food, health and wellness, and pharmacy.

The expectations of business in small cities is growing, leveraging tech. Local community entrepreneurs are looking to tech to take their businesses to new heights

Newer verticals like mobility, home services like plumbing, electrical repair, and newspaper subscriptions are also in the wings. Super App plans to become operational in the next 12 months across 100+ cities, including, Mysore, Shillong, Mahoba and Kochi.

Ravinder Mahori, Co-founder and CTO, eSamudaay said “Decentralization is at the core of eSamudaay’s vision and we believe technology is an enabler and not a disruptor. The power should be given to the users, not just to operate the business but to build and own the technology as well.

“The eSamudaay decentralised super app allows local communities to embrace digital without losing the essence of its culture. We would also like to invite developers across India to build modules on top of eSamudaay. eSamudaay wants to do for commerce what WordPress did for websites. We are an open source API and these modules can be used by digital entrepreneurs across small towns of India to serve the local community better. Together, we can ensure the human touch in local businesses is retained and sustained.”

This is an example of how the expectations of business in small cities is growing, leveraging tech. Local community entrepreneurs are looking to tech to take their businesses to new heights. COVID led to the need for digital transformation for small businesses in tier2-3 cities, particularly after there was an acceleration in consumer buying to migrate to large digital platforms.