Navigating the Digital Marketplace: The Impact of ‘Vyapar Aapke Dwar’ on Indian Commerce

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) in association with META (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) launched the ‘Vyapar Aapke Dwar’ campaign. This national initiative aims to train India’s business community in effectively utilizing social media for business purposes, thereby promoting social commerce in the country.

1. Current and Projected Market Size of Social Commerce: Social commerce in India currently has a turnover of $8 billion and is estimated to reach $85 billion by 2030​​​​.
2. Training and Workshops: Qualified trainers from META are providing training to traders on the optimal use of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Reels. This training is expected to foster business growth through effective social media utilization​​​​.
3. Scope and Reach of Social Media in India: In India, there are 75 crore users on WhatsApp, 37 crore on Facebook, and 33 crore on Instagram. With about 100 crore smartphone users, social commerce is poised to become a significant segment of digital commerce, surpassing traditional e-commerce​​​​.
4. Benefits of Social Commerce: Social commerce simplifies shopping, builds scalable trust, offers smart curation, provides tools for sellers, unlocks new consumer segments, reimagines high-value categories, and builds enablers for the social-commerce ecosystem​​​​.
5. Expansion Plans: CAIT plans to organize 250 workshops across India as part of this campaign. More than 45,000 trade associations nationwide are expected to be roped in to spread the message of social commerce to every market in the country​​​​.
6. Impact on Business Practices: The campaign is likely to change how businesses interact with consumers, focusing on developing specific communities and brand loyalty through social media engagement.
7. Consumer Behavior: Research suggests that a significant percentage of consumers prefer enterprises offering a great social media experience, indicating a shift towards purchasing goods directly from social apps rather than traditional e-commerce platforms​​.

This campaign marks a significant step towards integrating social media more deeply into the fabric of Indian business practices, potentially transforming the way businesses connect with consumers and conduct transactions.