The Hindu Business Line : Consumers favour Net research for gadget buys

New Delhi, Feb. 2 Gadget buffs in India are increasingly moving online to research their next consumer electronic products purchase, with an overwhelming 83 per cent of survey respondents citing the Net as their most-tapped resource for such buys.

According to the Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions’ Consumer Electronics Survey, while vendor sites emerged as the most used resource, portals came second, followed by search engines, and product review Web sites.

The Internet was the preferred choice in India because consumers could find the latest available models (67 per cent) and compare product features (65 per cent), and prices (62 per cent) and because they could do this at any time (61 per cent). Interestingly, quality and price were the key criteria for purchasing consumer electronics, rather than the brand name.

Nearly 10,000 MSN/Windows Live service users were surveyed across 10 markets — Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand — in a poll conducted by Synovate during August to October 2007 for Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions.

“Consumers in India, by nature, generally prefer to go by recommendations and today they have access to a lot more people and communities on the Internet for advice,” Mr Vineet Gupta – India Marketing Manager, Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, said.

Products most often researched by the respondents included mobile phones, laptop computers and digital cameras.

Laptops, mobile phones and MP3 players were among the top three preferred electronic products bought online by Indian users. The purchase decisions for electronics most often appeared to be influenced by children in the Indian households.

More Stories on : Internet | Online Marketing | Consumer Electronics

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
ISPs for inter-linking cables

Tundra Semiconductor expanding design centre

SunTec focuses on solutions for utility cos

‘Job seekers prefer online search to other methods’

Consumers favour Net research for gadget buys

MYTecSoft, Opel Systems tie up

Cisco ties up with NIIT to enhance talent pool

Fujitsu unveils ultra portables