25% of the shops in India will sale online by 2022 – Survey by Chitrangana.com

India is now getting used to of eCommerce and digital transactions. A recent study during Covid-19 cries shows, more than one-fourth of the local entrepreneurs are looking the opportunity to sell their products online. These are the mainstream traditional retailer and was not much interested in adopting new sales channel before COVID pandemic.

Grocery stores, pharmacy, bakers and vegetable suppliers account for almost half of all traditional retail entrepreneurs in India who are looking to begin an online store. Stores such as jewellers, opticians, toy, cosmetic and clothing stores have relatively shown more interest to build their online store instead of selling our marketplaces due to high expense and margin sharing with leading marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart.

A recent study conducted Chitrangana R&D team during 1st July to 7th July 2020 with 4575 retailers in India; the study reveals that the 5% of store owners are looking to move for eCommerce as quickly the operations get normalise, however, 8.5% are expecting to get their eCommerce stores ready by 2021 and 12.25% stores owner are very sure to join the eCommerce channel by 2022. The exciting facts appear that 34% store owner are now not interested in physical expansion, and their next business expansion will be online only.

2026 Update: What Actually Happened After This Survey

This was a projection made years ago about how many Indian shops would move online by 2022. Rather than one clean number, what actually happened is more interesting: a large share of small shops went online not through their own websites, but through marketplaces, WhatsApp-based selling, quick-commerce partnerships, and open networks like ONDC. Digitisation of small retail happened, just through different, often simpler, routes than a standalone online store.

Key takeaway for founders: if you’re building tools for small Indian retailers, meet them where they already are, WhatsApp, marketplaces, and simple app-based tools, rather than assuming every shop wants or needs its own full website.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did most Indian shops actually go online as predicted?
Many did, but mostly through marketplaces, WhatsApp selling, and platforms like ONDC rather than by building their own individual websites.

What’s the easiest way for a small shop to start selling online today?
Listing on an existing marketplace or open network, or starting with simple WhatsApp-based ordering, is usually faster and cheaper than building a standalone website first.