Despite a lot of raised eyebrows from friends and industry contacts over the last few months i was delighted to note that i was bang on with respect to what i considered the major areas where money is being spent online.
As per the IAMAI report , the total quantum of online spends stood at approx 7000 crores out of which the maximum share was for Travel , followed by Retail. The difference between these position however is huge. Here’s the approx values for each :-
1. Travel : 76%
2. Retails (E tailing) : 12 %
3. Online Classifieds : 9%
4. Paid downloads : 3 %
The spend for 2007- 2008 is expected to touch 9000 crores, considering the percentages above it translates into a cool 6800 crores on travel. I am personally disappointed with the figures for E- Tailing but all they tend to substantiate reports indicating that many auction driven sites such as Ebay are struggling.
While i figure Travel will remain on the top , or atleast the top 1-3 , the sectors which should pick up are E-tailing. With the arrival of more innovative products such as Online Grocery shopping for example, the horizontal growth is substantial and i hope to see healthier figures here.