The emergence of e-commerce is not a new phenomenon, the Covid-19 pandemic has undoubtedly hastened its development, say experts.

Varun Moolchandani, Executive Director, Archies said corporate growth is dependent on increasing revenue by bringing in new business.

“Being a retail company we were always working on an offline channel but after the outbreak of COVID-19, our revenues drastically fell which resulted in many company-owned store closure and shift to e-commerce, due to lack of footfall. Majorly, we have shut stores in malls because of not negotiated rentals and understanding. We have started our e-commerce business archiesonline.com and started selling our products on 20+ online marketplaces,” Moolchandani said.

The rise of the e-commerce industry was facilitated by improvements in infrastructure, improved awareness, technologically advanced logistics platforms and attractive online shopping deals, Ashima Singla, Founder and CEO, Whispering Homes said.

“According to IBEF, the Indian e-commerce market would grow by 21.5 percent to 74.8 billion dollars in 2022. It’s crucial to understand that rising internet spending isn’t a coincidence. To cater to the same, future-focused firms like Whispering Homes, we are taking a closer look at the challenges that come from these new digital business skill sets and how to tackle these hurdles to focus on the objective of success,” Singla said.

Madhav Kota, Director and Founder of iGRiD said, “We are a D2C brand that has grown by 100 percent year on year, and we expect to increase by 300 percent over the course of the next year.”

Pankhuri Gandotra, Founder of home decor brand Writings On The Wall, said, “During the pandemic as people were staying at home more than ever, they enjoyed redoing their spaces and indulging in shopping therapy! As a result, we had a lot of customers buying and enquiring about our products online.”

Mohit Bhatia, Co-founder of Malaki, said, “Company growth has been rapid, the pandemic opened new opportunities in D2C distribution and acted as a catalyst for many changes.”

Soumyadeep Mukherjee, Co-founder, Spice Story, said the pandemic led to the growth of several digital-first brands. “In the last two years, we have sold 1.2 million units of our Indian Ethnic chutneys,” Mukherjee said.

Vinish Arya, Director, Go Devil, said, “Go Devil was established in the year 2021, after the Covid-19 pandemic. We are working extremely hard to tap the vast potential available in the online apparel category of the garment industry.”