India Online B2B Platform Industry Outlook to 2025

Analysts at Ken Research in their latest publication "India Online B2B Platform Industry Outlook to 2025: Driven by Intuitive Vendor Discovery & Increasing Digitalization in Retail Sector of India" observed that the fast-growing Indian retail industry needs to focus on key areas such as logistic infrastructure, market forces of demand & supply, quality checking procedures, SaaS adoption along with innovative ways to enable better vendor discovery  with a view to promote the growth of the sector in a more structured & organized way. The report further talks about the online B2B industry segmentation & the eco-system, detailed profiles of various players in the market along with their service portfolio. It provides an operational analysis of the different business models in the industry & an operational view of the traditional & modern value chain of the retail space in India. Government focus to promote FDI & acquire investments have been thoroughly discussed along with digital penetration & case studies, success stories of various online B2B platforms and the future way forward & analyst recommendation for establishing an online B2B platform in India.

Industry Overview

There are ~25 B2B platforms catering only to the manufacturing MSME’s across India. The industry is at a nascent stage and holds high potential for growth in the future. The highest user penetration is of online listing platforms as many of MSME’s use this service to generate business leads. SaaS has not been able to gain much traction & is very rarely used as of now. Digitization in the supply chain ecosystem, especially with regard to traders, wholesalers, dealers, retailers and consumers using apps and other platform-driven methods hold the key to stickiness and growth in the space. Other major drivers propelling the B2B e-commerce in India would be increased usage of Mobile platforms which are providing app-based solutions for customers problems, development of Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning algorithms to identify buyer’s behavior and segmentation of categories and social media marketing and analytics which will drive traffic and increase user penetration in the market.

Industry Segmentation

The report explores the industry segmentation of online B2B platform players on the basis of demand arising from different regions (Tier-1, Tier-2 and Tier-3 Cities) & basis the nature of platforms (Listing platform and marketplace platform). It further discusses the revenue share of each segment, the major players of those segments & the growth facilitators of the future. The competition is not very high in the industry as there is a lack of vertical platform players in the market, but it is expected with emergence of new players in future, the industry competition would become fierce. In online listing segment, the players compete on the basis of listing charges & subscription rates. IndiaMART is the biggest player in term of users & suppliers and controls a significant share in the online listing platform market. On the other hand, highly invested platforms are focusing on providing business enablement services from SaaS services to logistics services to lending facilities and are focusing on building technology focused services to boost operational efficiency and achieve top line & bottom line benefits. Udaan, Bizongo, Beldara are few examples of such platforms who are offering business enablement services to MSME‘s in India.

Bottlenecks Faced in the Industry

Bad quality of leads along with low conversion rates, high commission charges leading to loss of margins, lack of end to end solutions, lack of quality checking procedures on platforms leading to loss of repetitive business & stringent payment terms and often there is a lack of good credit facilities in the industry, all above factors are considered as major bottlenecks in the industry by online B2B platform players as well as by MSME manufacturers. To overcome such bottlenecks, government is facilitating growth of digital literacy in rural & backward areas to literate the MSMEs of those regions in terms of use of technology and its benefits. Many online B2B platform players are also putting in more money & efforts to get the MSME on-boarded by teaching them about the various services and by providing customizable solution for their businesses to increase revenue and reduce cost.

Future Strategies-The Way Forward

Special focus on vertical marketplace platforms needs to be given in order to acquire expertise. Competition from foreign players with better technological solutions and investment capability could be seen in the industry in the years to come. Development of new categories of retail & wholesale would be leading the innovation scenario, while cost optimization across various service streams will become important along with harnessing Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics as well as Deep Learning Algorithms to facilitate and identify demand and trend analysis in advance for exploiting future growth opportunity. In future, India online B2B platform industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~20.0% during the period FY’2019-FY’2025.

Key Topics Covered in the Report

• Present Day Pain Points of MSMEs in B2B Retail Industry of India
• Market Sizing Analysis of B2B Retail in India
• Market Sizing Analysis of Online B2B Retail in India
• Industry Segmentation of Online B2B Retail in India
• Ecosystem of E- B2B Platforms in India
• Service Portfolio of Indian Online B2B Platforms
• Online B2B Marketplace Business Models
• Traditional Retail Value Chain & Pain Points Analysis
• New Retail Value Chain of Online B2B Players
• Digital Penetration of Indian MSMEs in various Online Services/Platforms
• Margin Impact of online B2B platform Players on MSME’s Revenue
• Major Challenges Faced in Digital Adoption by MSMEs & the Way Forward
• Vendor Choosing Criteria for Online B2B Platform Industry
• Government Initiatives for Online B2B Platform Development
• Case Studies on Online B2B Platforms including Operating Outlook, Financial Analysis, Business Model, Services, and Investment Analysis & Shareholding Pattern
• Feasibility Report on an Online B2B Platform in India