Anurag Goyal tried selling innerwear online about two years ago without luck. There was hardly any demand and nearly all his sales happened offline. But as India froze all economic activity in March to contain the pandemic, the 26-year-old’s business in Hisar, Haryana suffered. He gave e-commerce a second chance in an effort to curtail losses. This time it worked.
“Online sales have doubled, and now account for a larger chunk of my business,” Goyal said.
India’s small traders have lobbied hard for curbs on large online retailers, alleging they’re eating into their business through exclusive tie-ups, private labels and predatory pricing. While cheap data and half-a-billion internet users were already prompting businesses to go digital, one of the world’s harshest Covid-19 lockdowns made it clear it will be difficult to survive without embracing e-commerce. These merchants are…