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Growing Indian Confidence

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DQI Bureau
New Update

Growth of Internet penetration in India, though not very healthy, has

resulted in an increase in the number of users going to the web to do

some kind of transaction. Amongst all Asia Pacific Internet users, the

Visa survey found that Indians are more satisfied with online shopping.

Surprising part is that the data comes at a time when the economic

environment is not that positive. Another piece of data which has

emerged relates to href="http://dqindia.ciol.com/content/industrymarket/focus/2008/108101104.asp">security.

This has been the most important deterrent for any online shoppers

worldwide, particularly Indians. But the survey clearly suggests that

Indian consumers showing high degree of satisfaction  with the

security aspect of online transaction.






Talking about security improvements
and verified by Visa initiative, Uttam Nayak, Country Manager, Visa,

South Asia, says, “We introduced Verfied by Visa in 2004

based on 3D Secure protocol thereby ensuring that the consumers in

India had a secure shopping experience. It was developed by Visa and it

was licensed for industry to be interoperability for common standards.

Mastercard and other company also uses this protocol. “






Most credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard are focussing in
India considering India's population and growth of Internet

penetration, apart from technology advancement and above all the

quality of services that is ofered by the Indian telecom service

providers. The e-Commerce Consumer Monitor study  focused on

key elements such as href="http://dqindia.ciol.com/content/enterprise/datawatch/100061902.asp">e-Commerce

Internet usage, online shopping and cross-border shopping, bill payment

methods and monthly diagnostics.






The survey found that the top three reasons for shopping href="http://dqindia.ciol.com/content/spotlight/2009/209110601.asp">online
were the freedom to shop

anytime, the ability to compare prices and save money and save time.

The survey also provided some data on spending pattern by Indian online

shoppers. Study suggests that Indians spent an average of $2,086 in the

last 12 months. The average spent from APAC region was $2,526 during

the same period.






Another interesting trend which emerged was that Indians were flocking
to international href="http://dqindia.ciol.com/content/dqtop20_08/SolutionsSuperguide/2008/208090823.asp">eCommerce

sites for better deals. But the

primary reason for Indians going this way was the lack of availability

of products they were looking for on the Indian sites.  Other

factors for this were, products available were cheap and there were

more discounts. 51 percent of Indians surveyed did shopping on US based

eCommerce websites. Indians were also found to be more concerned about

the security of cross border transaction than their APAC counterpart.

The increased confidence level of Indian shoppers were attributed to

the awareness programs being organized by various banks in India

through promotions and media advertisements.






Most popular online purchase item for Indians was music followed by
travel related items. But travel related service was the biggest

category and it accounted for highest share of spend. According to

survey, respondents spent $1,469 in last 12 months on travel

related  services. The survey also revealed airline ticket,

online travel agents, and travel accomodation as the top three travel

categories for eCommerce.  According to Uttam Nayak of Visa,

“Being able to search for a good deal, compare prices, and

save money is definitely a driver for consumers to go online.”






Given the trends indicated in the survey, it looks like Indians are all
set to increase their exposure to eCommerce. Banks in India have done a

fairly good job in educating Indians about the security aspect, but

more needs to be done. Mobile banking applications are still to be much

success as the 'fear' factor of transaction from mobile phone continues

to remain a hurdle.

















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style="margin-bottom: 0in; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">

India's
travel related eCommerce (%)

Categories

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         Share

of Spend      

      Average Spend ($)

bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0"
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width="665">

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width="214">

width="213">
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size="2">Airlines/airline tickets

size="2">22

size="2">700

size="2">Travel information (without booking function)

size="2">1

size="2">38

size="2">Travel Accommodation

size="2">7

size="2">253

size="2">Online Travel agents (with booking fuctions

and trip info)

size="2">11

size="2">361

size="2">Other types of transportation for traveling

size="2">3

size="2">117

size="2">Source:

Visa

eCommerce Consumer Monitor 2009


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