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Indian online consumers may spend more than Rs 30,000 crore on top categories like mobile phones, electronic gadgets, consumer durables, apparel, home appliances and gift articles during the one-month festive sale that ends around Diwali, a survey by ASSOCHAM National Council on E-commerce said on Wednesday.
The rise of high-speed Internet has enabled more people from smaller towns to come online and buy goods this year. Also, smartphone use in the country has helped its e-commerce industry to grow, said D S Rawat, Secretary-General, The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industries (ASSOCHAM).
Buying interest
The survey conducted in 10 cities -- Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Chandigarh and Dehradun -- revealed that online shopping industry in India is fast catching on, not just in the larger metros but also in the tier II and tier III cities. The respondents included 350 professionals, officers and executives across various industry sectors including manufacturing, real estate, automobile, healthcare, retail, hospitality etc.
As per the findings, Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru lead in terms of the sales, but there is also a huge surge of interest from tier II and III cities like Pune, Gurgaon, Noida, Chandigarh Nagpur, Indore, Coimbatore, Jaipur, and Vishakhapatnam, which increased by 60-65% year-on-year.
The survey highlights that 35% of regular shoppers are in the 18-25 years’ age group, 55% in 26-35, 8% in 36-45 and 2% in the age group of 45-60. About 65% of online shoppers are male as against 35% female. As per the report, men and women between the age group of 25 and 34 years of age shop online the most during the festive season.
Most products bought and sold off through online comprise mobile phones (78%), electronic gadgets (72%), consumer durables (69%), gift articles (58%), accessories (56%), apparel (49%), and home appliances (45%).
Convenience and ease
This festive season, shopping on ground has taken a back seat. There are various reasons for this, like changing lifestyle, lack of time, being away from home for work, nuclear families, etc. These have brought about a change in the festive shopping methods. Online shopping has brought about convenience and ease into the customers’ lives.
About 65% of Delhiites prefer online shopping over the regular shopping this year with available deals online, than in brick-and-mortar stores, also giving advantage of free shipping with a “click” option.
There has been a five-fold increase in ordering through e-commerce as compared to last year, as branded apparels, accessories, jewellery, gifts etc are available at cheaper rates and are delivered at the doorstep within two-three days.
Campaigning for digitalization in India and attractive offers on online payments during sales, credit cards have emerged as the favourite payment method while shopping this Diwali. Among the reasons given by shoppers in buying through Internet are discounts / lower prices, saving time and efforts, convenience of shopping at home, variety / range of products, detailed information of the product and comparison of models and brands.
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