Cellphone most searched product online: Survey

MUMBAI: There was a time when Diwali shopping necessarily meant milling through crowds in malls and market places, queuing outside changing rooms and cash counters and patiently waiting through traffic jams. These days, quite a few people buy that box of diyas, dry fruits, dresses with the click of a mouse. A survey shows that more and more people have been checking out shopping websites to evaluate the products they plan to buy. When it comes to actual buying, though, many still prefer to go to a store.
A survey reveals an average monthly growth of 3.2% in the number of clicks garnered by shopping and classifieds websites. The growth has been consistent since April 2010. The most searched product online is the cellphone. The list also includes laptops, cameras, entertainment (games, songs and movies), shoes and watches, says the recently released Experian Hitwise India insight report on online consumer trends related to shopping on the internet.
The top reason behind logging on is to visit social networking sites, browse the internet, use emails etc. Shopping and classifieds comes in the sixth slot, after entertainment, business and finance, education, news and media. "Shopping and classifieds is now ranked sixth in terms of visit share as compared to its eighth rank last year," says Navin Chandani, managing director, Experian Marketing Services in India.
"It shows that as payment gateways get better and access to the internet is made easier through mobile devices and the proliferation of 3G, Indian consumers rely more and more on the internet for their shopping requirements," says Chandani. He, however, adds that actual purchase is still a physical activity for many as people prefer to evaluate/select products on the net. According to the survey, very little traffic from shopping and classifieds goes to banks and financial institutions. The average time spent by the Indian consumer on shopping and classifieds sites was five minutes and 25 seconds in September. An analysis of keywords used in search strings by Indian online consumers shows that most of them surf the net looking for price details, while others are looking to download, freebies, shop online, sale, look for used and new goods, do bookings, compare features of different products and shop for birthdays. Interesting in the list of generic search terms used by these online shoppers, prom dresses was ranked second, followed by car games, cars, free classifieds, laptop price list, games and hindi movies. Prom dresses was searched last year from June to October time frame anda gain during this year in the same time period,'' says the survey.
The top three states in terms of shopping and classifieds were Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Bangalore topped the searches for city-specific information.