Indian retail customers are taking strongly to mobile commerce, with nearly 83 percent of people owning a smartphone saying that they shop online on their mobile phones, new study reveals.
As expected, customers in the younger age group – 25-34 years old – are using their mobile phones more (90 percent) to shop online.
However, the State of M-Commerce 2016 survey, conducted by US-based global digital strategy and services firm Regalix Inc., also showed that while a large number of customers have used their mobiles to shop online, there is still much room for growth in terms of the frequency of online shopping.
Only 53 percent of those surveyed said that they had shopped online within the last month. Moreover, only 25 percent of respondents said that they shopped on their phones at least once a week. There seems to be a gender divide also in the frequency of online shopping, with more men (63 percent) doing so at least once a month than women (40 percent).
Overall, gadgets and electronics was the most popular product category at 60 percent, followed distantly by clothing and accessories at 20 percent. While 66 percent of men shopped for gadgets online, only 31 percent of women did so. On the other hand, more women (65 percent) shopped online for clothing, accessories and home products as compared to men (27 percent).
The survey likewise showed that the lion’s share of online retail is divided between three platforms – Flipkart (44 percent), Amazon (32 percent), and Snapdeal (19 percent). Interestingly, preference between these platforms is segmented by age, with Flipkart the preferred retailer for 49 percent of respondents in the 18-24 age group, but only 35 percent in the 25-34 age group. Snapdeal received more support in the 25-34 age group (25 percent) than in the 18-24 group (only 13 percent).
Another interesting finding is that the number of retail customers shopping online has grown, many still prefer to browse online and purchase offline. Around 42 percent off respondents said that they preferred to do so while purchasing gadgets and electronics, while 33 percent said that they bought clothing and accessories this way.
Clothing and accessories were the one category in which offline purchasers outnumbered online shoppers across all age and gender groups.
The two biggest factors influencing a customer’s decision to shop online are Cash-on-delivery (34 percent) and free delivery (34 percent). CoD was the preferred payment mode for the majority of customers, with 62 percent preferring this over net banking, credit/debit cards or mobile wallets.
Mobile apps are also the preferred way for customers to shop on their phones, with an overwhelming 94 percent declaring they preferred apps to mobile websites. The study also found that while 81 percent of respondents said they were unaffected by mobile ads, a higher percentage of women (25 percent) said that ads influenced their shopping behavior than men (17 percent).