India is projected to pass Brazil in 2017 and become the second most valuable e-commerce market in the BRIC group. By 2021, sales of physical goods via digital channels in India are estimated to amount to around 45 billion U.S. dollars in revenues. The number of digital buyers in India is projected to jump from around 82 million in 2015 to nearly 249 million by 2019. In comparison, Brazil is forecast to nearly double e-commerce sales revenue between 2016 and 2021. Russia’s market is also projected to grow. By 2017, retail e-commerce sales revenue in Russia is estimated to increase around 13 percent percent compared to the previous year.
China has the highest B2C e-commerce revenue per user amongst BRIC countries. While an average online buyer in Russia generated 337.5 U.S. dollars in online commerce revenues in 2016, about 709.5 U.S. dollars were spent by an average online buyer in China. Brazil had the third highest ARPU that year – 273.8 U.S. dollars. India’s B2C e-commerce ARPU stood at 117.7 U.S. dollars that year. The average B2C e-commerce revenue per user (ARPU) of all four countries is forecast to grow in the coming years.
Consumers in these four countries are turning to mobile platforms to research and purchase products online. In China, the number of mobile e-commerce users was estimated at 348 million in 2015. Alibaba, the leading online commerce provider in China, saw its mobile shopping revenue grow at an aggressive pace in the last year. In India, mobile sales accounted for about 60 percent of online shopping sales in 2015. The mobile commerce in Brazil has also increased aggressively in the last few years. In the end of 2017, mobile commerce is projected to accounted for 32 percent of all e-commerce transaction in Brazil, up from 23 percent in June 2016.
