Shopping attracts Indians to Internet

Survey says 98% claimed shopping as the top reason for using Internet.

Indians voted online shopping (98 per cent) as the top reason to access internet; closely followed by social networking (96 per cent), according to a recent survey conducted by American Express and Nielsen to gain consumer insights on online buying habits.

Mr Manoj Adlakha, CEO, American Express Bank-ing Corp., India, said, “Shopping has always been the favourite pastime for India and now it has become the “virtual pastime. From ezeClick and SafeKey to Pay with Points at all online merchants, we continue to provide the right avenues to ensure convenient and secure online transactions for our cardmembers”.

The survey was conducted across six cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.

It revealed that 95 per cent users are using the online banking and 91 per cent are making online travel bookings. The survey found that 77 per cent of consumers, who are professionals, prefer making online payment.

The survey also found that more and more people are adopting online payment of utility bills as they want to avoid wasting time in queues.

Delhi and Bengaluru lead in the online utility bill payments with 81 per cent respondents from these two cities showing preference for paying bills online. Jaipur came second with 75 per cent followed by Ahmedabad with 72 per cent. Mumbai, however, witnessed only 69 per cent respondents paying utility bills online.

The survey in fact revealed that women are the internet- and tech-savvier sex in India with a higher adoption of plastic money (74 per cent) to book flights online (56 per cent) and shop on mobile apps (98 per cent).

The survey has also revealed that discounts and cash back were the major factors that lured online shoppers (60 per cent) while tech-savvy youth (18-30 years) aptly targeted by online recharge and utility bill payment platforms form (81 per cent) of users.

According to the survey, the average online monthly spend of Indians is Rs 9,400. According to the survey, the average spend in metros is Rs 10,900, while in tier-1 cities it is Rs 8,000. The American Express survey predicts the overall ticket size to increase to Rs 16,000.

According to the survey men clothing (57 per cent) and footwear (53 per cent) are the most frequently purchased products online, while 51 per cent of users in metro cities purchasing mobile/ tablets online in comparison to 37 per cent of tier 1 users.