Tech products rule Indian online shopping

Kolkata 😕 India, though far from attaining the status of a matured market, is still one of the fastest growing e-commerce hubs in the world and the surge is driven mostly by the love of gadgets and gizmos here, online shopping company eBay says.

The company on Wednesday launched its 2010 Census – statistics that give a peek into the online shopping trends in India done through its website – and even though India is nowhere among the top 10 countries, eBay?s business here grew by over 64 per cent this year.

Since last year, eBay has also seen a over 33 percent rise in its trading locations or ?hubs? and over 1,000 rural centres have been added this year, a top company official said.

?We are now in fact attempting to replicate this growth in markets like Philippines and Malaysia,? eBay India?s New Ventures & Emerging Markets Head Abhimanyu Lal said.

According to eBay?s charts, Delhi leads India in e-commerce, closely followed by Mumbai, Jaipur, Chennai and Bangalore.

Kolkata comes in at the eigth, dropping one position from last year.

?I would disagree with the notion that Calcutta (Kolkata) is uncomfortable with e-commerce. It is the biggest hub in eastern India,? Lal said, replying to a question.

So what are Indians trading? Mobile handsets, stamps, coins, books and USB Flash drives are the top 5 traded items on eBay India. 48 pe rcent of all trading is in the technology category, says the company.

And while tech also holds a considerable grip on the items Indians imported from foreign sellers, when it comes to exports, the Lifestyle category has the biggest chunk.

?U.S., U.K., Australia, China and Canada are the top trading countries for Indians and they are selling a lot of books, fashion earings, pendants, collectibles and herbal remedies to our customers abroad,? the official said.

The company refrains from giving out exactly how much worth of goods and items are traded on its site but it says ebay.in sells one item every minute. Globally, in the third quarter of 2010, the total value of traded items on eBay Inc.?s trading platforms was USD 14.7 billion.

But eBay stands at a risky position. Despite its fledging business, the company?s online payments arm, PayPal, is expected to outgrow it by 2014 if current growth trends continue, a New York Times report said last month.

While?that is necessarily not a bad thing, it is not amongst the most encouraging omens for online retailers and auction sites say analysts.

For companies like eBay and the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon, the next shift in e-commerce is getting ?local?.

Ebay has just acquired Milo.com, a site that lets users see if the items they are buying online are available in nearby stores, in an attempt to twine the online and offline shopping worlds.

The company? has also?launched a pilot of the social buying phenomenon that is the rage in golbal e-commerce these days.

?We have launched a group buying platform in the Philiippines a couple of weeks back. The response has been pretty good,??Lal said.

For a country like India, which has not yet made true transition from local to online, group buying could be a big thing, experts say.

Though eBay declined to comment whether such a platform is in the pipelines for India, Lal said a number of ?big things? are being cooked up for an early release next year.