Analysis of recently reported 2015 financials of 22 unlisted e-commerce companies reveals some interesting trends: (1) these companies posted revenue growth of 191% yoy, with marketplaces leading the pack at 475% revenue growth (not GMV), (2) in most other categories (barring marketplaces), loss was magnified by high cash-burns from 1-2 players (for instance, housing.com in real estate). Several companies (general + real estate classified companies in particular) spent aggressively on advertising to gain traffic and market-share.
e-tailers is the only category where loss margin declined yoy (though loss in