Social, video commerce a $250 bn opportunity for digital-first brands by 2030: RedSeer report

With social commerce and video commerce revolutionising the e-commerce segment, digital-first brands have a $250 billion opportunity in front of them by 2030, said a recent report by management consulting firm RedSeer. According to the company, online retail has grown sustainably during the pandemic and made inroads into small towns.

“India's e-tailing GMV (gross merchandise value) reached $53 billion in 2021, demonstrating post-COVID acceleration,” said the report.

As per the report, India will be adding hundreds of millions of new online shoppers in the next few years, primarily from a low-income consumer group in small towns. “To address the needs of this set of consumers, social and video commerce is creating a new retail channel for an aspirational new India; this is already supported by over $1 billion funding in 2021,” it said.

“Online-first brands, which are already actively tapping these platforms, hence have a $250 billion opportunity in from of them,” it added.
Many of these new-age digital-first brands, said the report, are changemakers as they are offering quality products at affordable price points that are not served well by most traditional brands.
“This helps them stay relevant in an ever-evolving digital landscape.”
Mrigank Gutgutia, Associate Partner, RedSeer, said, “The current B2C retail landscape is evolving rapidly with the emergence of new consumer behaviors and expectations. The rise of new retail channels, particularly video and social commerce, is further changing the way consumers shop and what they expect from brands.”

As a result, he added, digital-first brands are finding it increasingly rewarding to engage with consumers in these channels and offer them a seamless, omnichannel experience.

Consumers have been highly receptive to these digital-first brands, as per the report. The findings further suggest that consumers opt for these new-age brands for their quality (and not only price) with significantly high repurchase willingness.

Over the last few years, multiple $100 million revenue technology-first brands have been created already across the categories.
The report now expects many more such brands to emerge over the 2021-30 period and scale up exponentially supported and incubated by roll-up platforms that are building the next wave of digital-first brands for India.

“This will be enabled by the growing trend of digital-first consumers who are willing to try and adopt new brands at a faster pace than traditional consumers. This trend is expected to drive the rapid scale-up of digital-first brands, with some achieving a market capitalisation similar to that of major traditional brands in India in just a few years,” it added.