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Google India Report Shows The Growing Effect Of The Internet On Tech Shopping Behavior
Google India has released a study which gives us some insight into the buying behavior of the average Indian tech shopper. The study was conducted by Nielsen on behalf of Google and was carried out offline across India. The aim of the study was to understand the influence of the Internet on consumer behavior.
The study shows that a significant number of Indian shoppers (40%) use the Internet to research products and compare prices in addition to reading reviews. 7 out 10 buyers seem to know everything about the product and the brand. This information comes chiefly from the Internet. The impact of the Internet was judged to be the highest in Tier 1 and 2 cities thus showing that the Internet research and information search is not just limited to the metros anymore.
The report also claimed that the Internet is second only to TV in creating awareness of tech products. Some days back we had also written about a Deloitte report which suggested that TV was the most influential medium for advertisers. Although TV won’t go anywhere anytime soon, the relevance of the Internet is on the rise. Tech products are special because those who are interested in gadgets and their specifics are mostly proficient with the use of the Internet for product research. Another thing that the study threw up was the finding that 46% of the respondents said that they use the mobile Internet for their research. The fact that 22% of Tier 2 consumers used their mobile phones as the sole devices for accessing information on the web cements the growing usage of mobile Internet in small town India. Of course, there is a lot of scope for the growth of the mobile Internet in these areas of the country. The reason behind the growth of mobile Internet in small towns and cities in India is pretty straightforward. Internet enabled phones don’t cost the earth these days and the data packs provided by the network operators are also quite affordable. Thus using the mobile phone to access Internet is a easier and cheaper than investing in expensive hardware like PCs and Laptops.
Rajan Anandan, VP & Managing Director Sales & Operations Google India spoke of the findings.
“This study brings to light two important facts – first, Internet as a medium has gone mainstream and not only does it help in creating awareness and consideration but it is substantially impacting decisions of final purchases, which was traditionally the role of point of sale and in-store sales people. The retailers’ ability to influence a buyer’s mind is diminishing and companies need to look at engaging buyers online about their products and offerings. Secondly, the Internet is impacting decisions in tier 2 cities as well and mobiles are emerging as a strong medium. While the technology vertical is one of the early adopters of digital advertising medium but there is tremendous scope and opportunity for players to fully leverage the digital medium to engage buyers online including mobile – which is growing faster than the PC.”
The study also revealed an interesting link between the price of a gadget/tech product and the intensity of the research done online. It has been noted that the intensity of research increase when the price exceeded Rs. 7000 for a mobile phone, Rs. 30,000 – Rs.40,000 in the case of a laptop and Rs.30,000 in the case of a TV. The duration of the research done on an average for every tech product was estimated to be around 2 weeks.
The online research also helped consumers to gain knowledge and awareness of new and better products. Some 57% changed their minds about a product during the research period. Thus we can see how the Internet democratizes the process of buying the right product. A user can check up on all aspects of a product, compare it to other similar products and differentiate using parameters like specs, price, availability and reviews. The survey also mentioned that most users engaged in price comparison, looking up product images, comparing specs, watching product videos, looking at product reviews, locating offline stores and finally logging onto price comparison websites.
Since Google specializes in search, the study also looked at search results for the various types of tech products to gain an insight into what people were searching for online. It emerges that laptops (54%) are the highest searched category with mobile phones (39%), digital camera (38%) and television (33%) following its lead. The study also shows that Indian shoppers want to get a physical look and feel of a product and consult with the sales team about price negotiation, deals, check guarantee and figure out the installation details. These are the reasons the surveyed shoppers gave to the question about why they preferred shopping offline.
The study was conducted in the 4 metros, 4 Tier-1 cities (Chandigarh, Pune, Indore, Coimbatore) and 4 Tier-2 cities (Kanpur, Vadodara, Kochi, Bhubaneshwar). The study had 3677 respondents in total out of which 86% of respondents were male and 14% were female. The respondents were primarily in the age group of 18-44, which by itself is a very broad segment.
Most of the information given by the study doesn’t actually surprise those who have been following consumer behaviour in recent times. You can tell that online research for products in growing because of the many price comparison services that have come into the picture, an example being Compare Raja. However, this report confirms the trend in the specific tech shopping category.
What are your thoughts on the report and its findings about consumer behavior? Share them with us.
Image Source | FrancisAnderson
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2012-11-21 05:40:21
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