Believe it or not, there are more takers for Online Shopping than Social Networking in India

American Express recently conducted a pan-India survey titled ‘Understanding Online Consumers’ in association with Nielsen. It was conducted across six cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. This was to gauge the mindset of India’s online consumers. The findings offer a unique view into the minds of the Indian customer.

Some of the key findings of the report:

Indians voted online shopping (98%) as the top reason to access internet, closely followed by social networking (96%).

Youth prefers cards over cash-on-delivery
The survey found that 70% Indian consumers prefer online shopping with cards over cash on delivery.

The young professional (age group: 26-30yrs) prefers the easier refund process. Almost all responding youngsters claim to have shopped online in the past year.

Indians don’t like queues, Mumbai being an exception

The survey revealed a growing affinity towards online utility bills payment.

Three out of four people pay their utility bills online. The tech-savvy youth (age group - 18-30 yrs.) mostly targeted by online recharge and utility bill payment platforms show higher adoption rates of over 80% for online utility bill payments.

Delhi and Bengaluru lead the country with 81% respondents paying bills online, Jaipur and Ahmedabad close behind with 75% and 72% respectively.

Surprisingly, Mumbai comes in with a relatively lesser 69%.

Deals drives India to shop online

Over 60% respondents cited that they shop online during discount days.

Apart from the comfort factor, users buy products online because of cash back offers (40%), discount coupons (38%), freebies and additional offers (35%).

All youngsters shop online frequently, ease of payment and product comparison being the key
Almost every consumer in the age group 18-35 years (99% for 18-25 yrs, 98%for 26-35 years) admitted to shop online frequently.

Only 61% of consumers falling in the age bracket 46-50 years have shopped online in the past year, while only 37% have intentions of doing so in the next 12 months.

This shows a stark conservative approach towards online purchasing as we move up the age ladder.

Indian women score over men.
Indian women have taken the lead in online transactions, leaving behind men across the country

Over 74% female respondents use plastic money for their online transactions. Women are using credit and debit cards to shop on their mobiles (98%) and book flights online (56%). Women participants (98%) also have higher penetration of mobile apps as compared to men (81%).

Image credit: Indiatimes