New study helps better understand Ecommerce habits in India

A study done by Indian management consulting firm Zinnov focuses on comparing Ecommerce habits from residents in urban cities to residents in more rural areas in Delhi- National Capitol Region (NCR).

The Zinnov study shows 50% of consumers in the Delhi-NCR area using Ecommerce websites to research desired products online, but eventually purchase the researched products offline. The habit of researching online prior to buying in-store is more popular in urban areas with 64% of urban consumers doing so, while only 20% of non-urban consumers researched a product online before purchasing it. The lack of internet connected homes and payment methods are the reason for the low amount in the more rural areas of India.

Understanding the local finical climate helps with understanding why Indian consumers act this way. India has one of the lowest credit cards per capita turnovers in the world, with 400 million cards issued to a population of over 1.2 billion. As the majority of those 400 million are relatively new to the concept, general concerns related to online purchasing are still present. 30% of those asked by Zinnov claimed they do not purchase goods online due to concerns regarding the quality of the product. 28% of participants said they prefer to buy in-store, due to a fear of a wrong item being shipped to them.

"About two-third of population is currently using e-commerce websites to research on products, largely due to lack of availability of credit/debit cards, trust on the delivery part and the trust on what they will get as the final product," added Zinnov Market Expansion Director Praveen Bhadada in the study.

Zinnov also provided the most sought after items online in India with books, travel, electronics, and apparel taking the top spots.

The main deterrents for consumers are product quality issues, inadequate delivery, and a fear of the wrong item arriving. Another reason is the instilled habit of buying goods in physical stores either due to convenience or lack of supported online payment options. Due to these concerns some firms have taken to offering cash-on-delivery as a payment option to those still unable or weary of paying online, such as Amazon.in and Cleartrip.

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