Most Indian surfers search for mobile phones,compare prices

The report by Experian Hitwise titled ‘Online Trends for Shopping and Classifieds in India’ says that shopping and classifieds rank sixth in terms of visit shares on the web. It was ranked eighth last year. The other categories are computers and internet that stands on top,followed by entertainment,business and finance,education,and media.

The visit share of shopping and classifieds websites has consistently grown since April 2010 with average monthly growth rate of 3.22 per cent. The growth was primarily driven by rewards and directories,apparel and accessories,and books. “This shows that as payment gateways get better,and with the proliferation of 3G services,Indian consumers are relying more on the internet for their shopping requirements”,said Navin Chandani,MD,Experian Marketing.

Most web surfers go looking for deals,while others are on the lookout for freebies,discounts,compare features etc. With the convenience of pay on delivery,more shoppers prefer to shop online. “Amongst the top 10 brand associated search terms,only one is a consumer brand,while others are e-commerce portals”,the report said.

Very little traffic,however,from shopping sites goes to bank websites indicating that consumers do not immediately go for a purchase transaction.

“Even though there is a heavy tilt on the internet for information gathering and product comparison,actual purchase for many is still a physical world activity”,said Chandani.