India's online smartphone market hits record 45% in 2020

Led by Flipkart again, India's online smartphone market reached its highest-ever share at 45 percent in 2020, registering a growth of seven percent (on-year) in a pandemic-hit year, according to a new report.

Flipkart remained the top online platform with 48 percent share, followed by Amazon which captured 44 percent share. Amazon grew 34 percent (on-year) and was the fastest growing online platform, Counterpoint Research said late on Friday.

Xiaomi remained the top online brand with a 40 percent market share driven by the Redmi as well as Poco brand smartphones.

With 19 percent, Samsung captured the second position in the Indian online smartphone market driven by the Galaxy M-series. Samsung captured more than one-third of shipments on Amazon.

Realme was third in the online segment, also with a 19 percent share.

According to Counterpoint, Realme remained the top smartphone brand on Flipkart in 2020, registering a growth of 27 percent (on-year).

Vivo captured the fourth position due to strong shipments of the Y91i, Y20, and V20 series.

"OnePlus was the top online premium smartphone brand on Amazon and captured the fifth position in the overall online smartphone market," the report mentioned.

The top five brands in the online market captured more than 82 percent of the total shipments.

Realme and Poco were the top smartphone brands on Flipkart, capturing more than 50 percent of the shipments on the platform.

The premium online smartphone market also registered a 22 percent (on-year) growth due to these strategies. Apple, OnePlus, and Samsung drove this segment and contributed to almost 90 percent of the shipments in this segment.

"Major online brands are adopting a hybrid channel strategy and expanding their offline stores. Also, as the smartphone brands move to a more ecosystem strategy and multiple devices, the focus will be on consumer experience, which will further grow the offline segment," the findings showed.

Innovations such as O2O (online-to-offline) and financing schemes focusing on low-cost ownership and upgrades will also increase smartphone adoption in the country, the report added.