# E-commerce and digital marketplaces: Chokepoints and risks

Online marketplaces and apps linking sellers, payments, warehouses and delivery fleets

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/industries/ecommerce/risks/

#### Chokepoints and risks

- Platform concentration: a few marketplaces and ad platforms set fees and visibility for millions of sellers.
- Payment rail concentration: UPI handled 24.07 billion transactions in one month (September 2026), so outages or fee changes affect almost all Indian online checkout^[3](https://ddindia.co.in/2026/10/upi-transactions-surge-23-to-24-07-billion-in-september-npci/).
- Quick commerce has roughly doubled each year and Bain forecasts it will supply 45-50% of incremental India e-retail GMV to 2030 (forecast), a bet that depends on dense, costly urban dark stores^[2](https://www.bain.com/insights/how-india-shops-online-2026/).
- Regulation of foreign-owned marketplaces, gig worker welfare and data protection can change platform economics quickly.
- Cross-border e-commerce (about US$ 2.5 trillion of digitally ordered exports in 2021, roughly 13% of world exports; an uncertain estimate) is exposed to tariffs and customs changes^[1](https://unctad.org/publication/business-e-commerce-sales-and-role-online-platforms).

## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/industries/ecommerce/index.md)
- [Where ₹100 goes](https://www.materialinsights.org/industries/ecommerce/cost-mix/index.md)
- [Price links with suppliers](https://www.materialinsights.org/industries/ecommerce/price-links/index.md)
- [Example story](https://www.materialinsights.org/industries/ecommerce/story/index.md)
- [Linked industries](https://www.materialinsights.org/industries/ecommerce/linked-industries/index.md)
- [Value chain](https://www.materialinsights.org/industries/ecommerce/value-chain/index.md)
- [Materials drawn on](https://www.materialinsights.org/industries/ecommerce/materials/index.md)
- [Sources](https://www.materialinsights.org/industries/ecommerce/sources/index.md)