Written by: Ritu Kant Ojha
2 min readNew DelhiOct 19, 2011 12:50 AM IST
First published on: Oct 19, 2011 at 12:50 AM IST
Search engines are invariably the first port of call,when one logs on to the World Wide Web. They are used for a variety of purposes,one of which is searching for the best deals available.
Web surfers in India search the most for mobile phones. This fact has emerged from a survey conducted by a leading global information services company. The top ten searches for products include electronic goods laptops,cameras; entertainment games,songs,movies; accessories shoes,watches,fashion. Among the brands,Nokia is the most searched brand by Indian surfers. Of the top 10 brands,five are related to electronic goods,one is a car manufacturer and four relate to e-commerce.
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.
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