Affordable internet access and a wider choice of goods are attracting consumers from smaller towns and villages to virtual shop shelves, fuelling business for web retailers like eBay, Amazon and Naaptol. As broadband penetration increases, the trend seems set to grow.

Says B Muralikrishna, country manager at eBay India, which has approximately three million users: ?Besides easy access to internet services, dearth of retail outlets is driving e-commerce traffic from these areas.? EBay India is the 100% subsidiary of the San Jose, California-based online retailing MNC, which is second only to Amazon. ?We are witnessing increased traction from tier-II and-III cities on our platform,? says Kashyap Vadapalli, director, category management at eBay India. ?The number of rural e-commerce hubs have also grown significantly.?

Ebay, with 97 million active users from across the globe including India, transacted gross merchandise worth R2.8 lakh crore in 2010-11. According to industry estimates, the internet user base in India will triple to 300 million by 2014 from 100 million now. Female users, now 20% of all users, are expected to shop more through e-commerce sites.

?In the past two years, women shoppers on eBay India have increased to more than 25%, from an insignificant number earlier,? says Vadapalli of eBay. ?This is mostly due to the fact that we have changed our product mix to suit their tastes.?

?The lifestyle category, which is 45% of what women buy, has been ramped up with more jewelery, watches, cosmetics and home furnishing items,? he added.

EBay India, which ships its items within 2-3 days of purchase, is planning to speed up its deliveries, for which it has partnered with logistics firm Aramex. Says Vadapalli: ?Our deliveries are fairly prompt. But we’re committed to the cause of improving our supply mechanism across smaller towns.?

Like eBay, various other e-commerce companies like naaptol.com have tied up with logistics providers like DHL and BlueDart to enable swift product delivery. Some have raised money from venture funds. Yebhi.com has raised money from venture capital fund Catamaran Partners to increase its manpower to service additional traffic from small towns.

According to eBay India Census 2011, there are 3,311 cities wired into e-commerce and more than 1,267 rural e-commerce hubs in India. ?The R40,000 crore e-commerce industry had earlier projected a growth rate of 30%, but then revised it to 45% for the current financial year,? says Vadapalli.

As more Indians take to the internet, e-commerce is here to stay, feel analysts. ?The next boom in retail will come from e-commerce and m-commerce platforms,? says Abheek Singhi, partner and director at Boston Consulting Group. ?It is cost-effective for retailers and value-for-money for consumers.?

Tier II and III cities are fast catching up, but 51% of the online trade happens in metros and tier I cities, shows the eBay Census. Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Japiur and Chennai are the top five e-commerce hubs. Vadapalli says, ?metros have a dominant share but online shopping is now a nationwide phenomenon. It is no longer a big city thing.?

Mobile phones, digital cameras, netbooks and tablets are the most-purchased items on the platform. ?50% of all purchases are electronics. The next most-sold category is lifestyle with 36% share, followed by collectibles with 12% and media items with a 2% share,? adds Vadapalli.