Maharashtra tops all other Indian state, when it comes to shopping online, according to Flipkart.com. The portal has over one crore registered users and sees over 10 lakh daily visitors with over 50 per cent of traffic coming from Tier I and Tier II cities.
Pune is the fourth largest city for Flipkart.com in terms of sales in the country.
Within Maharashtra, Mumbai is followed by Pune, Thane and Nagpur. Flipkart.com sales data show that Thane, Kalyan and Solapur have grown 12 times over the last one year.
The leading product categories among the online shoppers in Maharashtra are mobile, computer, storage, books and tablets. While people in Pune buy more footwear, Nagpur has seen demand in computer accessories, fashion accessories and personal and hygiene products.
According to user data, the average age of the shoppers in these cities range between 25 and 30 years.
Speaking on the emerging trends of online shopping specifically in the Tier II cities, Ravi Vora, Senior V-P -Marketing, Flipkart.com, said, “Increasing internet literacy and the growing penetration of smartphones in these markets are driving online shopping. The access to a plethora of brands and the increasing purchasing power of customers are contributing to the growth of the industry.”
One of the significant trends that will drive the adoption of online shopping by Tier I & II cities is mobile commerce. Quick purchase items like books and accessories are popular categories among those who access the website through their mobiles.
Ravi added, “The mobile commerce opportunity is pegged to reach Rs 1,200 crore by 2015 and Flipkart.com is looking at this channel very seriously. Our typical mobile customer comes from tier I & II cities. “The online retailer recently launched a native Android app with features like offline mode browsing, voice search and barcode scanning.
Flipkart also has large plans for the upcoming festive season and hopes to see the cities of Maharashtra play a large role in terms of traffic generation.