Why ‘Digital India’ should now be rebranded to ‘Mobile India’

Today, India is transforming rapidly into a digital economy. With the government’s 'Digital India' initiative in action, this change is all set to be fast-tracked. The Internet has revolutionized companies across sectors with all of them now going digital as a conscious decision rather than an afterthought.

Just when the country has started warming up to the idea of a 'Digital India’, it is going through another transformation which is the rapid proliferation of smartphones. The once ubiquitous 'desktop-first’ era is rapidly drawing to a close as smartphones have caused a major shift in our lifestyles and disrupted the digital space.

Consumers are using smartphones for multiple purposes such as utility, entertainment and not purely for communication. With evolving consumer preferences, companies from a range of sectors like food, entertainment, retail, travel, banking, education etc. are now taking the E-commerce route to reach out to the always connected consumer.

Today, two out of three consumers use their smartphones to search for products and make a purchase, as the mobile medium is quicker and more convenient.

This in turn has created numerous opportunities for businesses to take advantage of the new trend. Earlier, consumer’s basic needs were roti, kapda, makaan and transport/gaadi, however for today’s millennials these needs are being fulfilled through mobile and hence can now be called M-roti, M-kapda, M-makaan and M-transport/M-gaadi. The following sectors are seeing disruption by mobile, thus making ‘mobile-first’ strategies a major thrust factor for Digital India.

The multi-billion dollar question: Should E-commerce go ‘App-only’?

E-commerce focused companies such as retail, food tech, travel and banking are moving to the mobile platform on a large scale. As the number of companies jumping onto the mobile bandwagon expands, Internet-based businesses are trying to keep up by reworking their business models to stay ahead of the curve.

Some E-commerce firms, having gauged the power of mobile have shut down their mobile sites and shifted to 'app-only' formats. However, whilst mobile apps deliver higher transactions vis-à-vis mobile web, companies also need to take consumer preferences and convenience into consideration.

Today, there are a number of consumers who still prefer to access both apps and mobile web for their content and shopping needs. The web browser is an important and a widely used app on all devices. Hence, this will have to be a well thought out trade-off for companies that plan to shut down their mobile website. These companies will need to think not twice but thrice, before moving to an app only strategy.

What next after E-commerce?

The next sector that is headed for disruption is the entertainment space, with gaming and movie distribution leading this trend. With reducing price points, consumers are opening up to the idea of purchasing virtual items within games. This latest trend, promises to usher in a near term opportunity for the digital gaming space in India.

Aside from gaming, the movie distribution space is another key area within entertainment, to watch out for. In India, 15 million consumers purchasing one movie ticket each to view a top grossing Bollywood film in a multiplex means approximately Rs 200 crores ($ 30 million) in revenue for the movie producer.

However, if an equal number of consumers i.e. 5 to 10 million people purchase the same movie on their smartphones, this would mean the producer has the opportunity to earn an additional Rs 50 crores ($ 2 million) in revenue through the mobile medium.

In the mid term, we will see a large number of movie goers now turn to mobile to purchase and download movies. Additionally, with the launch of 4G, mobile is all set to replace television as the second screen for entertainment consumption.

M-learning will drive the E- Learning sector

E-learning is the third sector that will definitely be disrupted by mobile in emerging markets such as India, China, Indonesia, and Brazil. Further, these markets are pegged to become top buyers of mobile learning products and services by 2016-2017.

From a revenue perspective, the global E-learning market is expected to reach $107 billion by 2015, with India contributing a whopping 55% to this growth. Additionally, it is estimated that the worldwide mobile learning market in 2015 is pegged to become a $12.2 billion market by 2017. Companies such as iProf, Byju's, Toppr and Mango Learning will act as catalysts in the Indian mobile learning space.

Digital now becomes synonymous with Mobile

For most digital consumers in India, mobile is fast becoming the preferred way of accessing the Internet and consuming digital content. With mobile apps consumers are finding it quick and convenient to access content especially on-the-go, making it the primary medium of consuming digital content.

We have reached a stage wherein no matter what sector your company operates in - E-commerce, entertainment, E-learning, media etc. you will become unable to effectively engage the vast majority of Indian consumers, unless you have a mobile-first strategy in place.

Hence, it is not wrong to mention that digital has now become synonymous with mobile. Companies that do not pay heed to this massive mobile opportunity and refuse to take a ‘mobile first’ approach will miss the bus, if they do not act soon.

The next few months will confirm how mobile expands across new industry verticals. That said, given that the share of mobile in the digital India ecosystem is increasing at such a rapid pace, the Modi government will need to look at evolving its hugely successful ‘Digital India‘ campaign to ‘Mobile India’, in the near future.

This article was first published in The Economic Times.