online retail in the indian subcontinent is poised to take off in 2023 and as forrester says it will grow at a cagr of 198 and more than double to 855 billion by 2025 there are several trigger factors for this and one of them is the steady penetration of ecommerce in tier ii and tier iii cities based on cheap internet and everexpanding logistics network the implication is that bigger brands that had no access or were perceived as too expensive now have access to a broader market provided they optimize assortment and price pointsanother triggering factor is the open network for digital commerce ondc launched by the government of india the pilot program will allow businesses of all sizes to join the digital commerce revolution ondc targets to raise ecommerce reach in the next two years to 25 of indias consumer purchases from 8 currently in a country of over 135 billion people advt to summarize the retail industry will see more change in the next five years than it has seen in the past fifty years and managing this change will be essential to retailers survivalhere are four distinct technology trends that will drive online retail in indiathe conscious customer economization and the focus on esg environmental social and governance has had a remarkable effect on customers and given rise to what is popularly known as conscious capitalism in this new era younger consumers with more oversized pockets weigh brands from their esg policies when purchasing customers expectations have switched from affordable to worth the costthere are other expectations too both tangible and intangible such as sustainability impact on the environment business ethics what you see is what you get convenience seamless storetohome transitions and security at all levels transaction to product authenticity retailers need to identify customers needs personally and find ways to market those products to specific targets datadriven retail online retail is data driven across the supply chain from providing omnichannel experiences to personalized marketing and a seamless supply chain data defines the difference between success and failure for online retailers according to a mckinsey study retail companies that employ datadriven management can increase their productivity by 60 advt with growing competition and competitive pricing leading customers from cart to pay is an enormous challenge but every journey even if it does not end in a purchase translates into valuable data capturing customer footprints and tracking their purchasing decisions choices and behavior is key to customer retention and future success personalized experiences are datadriven and the future of retailers will be based on two powerful words engagement and retentionboth of which are only possible with datafrictionless retail involves the elimination of all steps in the buying process including nonvalueadded activities that cause friction there is this compelling need for delivery to be frictionless shopping to be frictionless apparel trying or return to be frictionless and all of this is emerging into the cashierless store cardless payment and driverless delivery models these