India, July 18 -- How do you picture retail?

Ride back a few decades, you would think of the humble mom-and-pop store in the neighbourhood, or the local market, at the most. Reset the time machine to two decades, you would reach a snazzy shopping mall.

Return to the present day, you would hit Instagram or an ecommerce or quick commerce app. Retail is now defined by the D2C brand you often spot on your smartphone.

What runs beneath this steady change down the decades?

In one word, it's accessibility, to be precise. As the internet went deeper and wider across the country, it fundamentally recalibrated how the 1.4 Bn-strong consumer economy discovers, decides, and buys products.

The D2C (direct-to-consumer) ventures are no longer just ...