Clothes to dominate Indian E-Commerce in 2013

Consumer electronics dominated the Google India search in 2012 in the product category, followed closely by clothes and accessories. This gap is will be shortened, if not the dynamics inter changed, in the year 2013, claims Google. This means that by the end of 2013, apparels and accessories will be the most sought after, researched and bought items in the Indian E-commerce scenario.

Google India undertook a study wherein it observed consumer interest, and along with TNS Australia, it came up with very informative results. The data for the study was combined after taking into account the answers of 800 respondents between the ages 18 and 50, who were part of major cities of India, like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad. In terms of Indian e-commerce, it was an crucial study that led to a concrete consolidation of data.

India’s witnessing a mobile revolution, with them contributing major portions of online shopping via Google, with 30% of all shopping queries in India coming from mobiles. The study claims that Indians used their mobile phones a lot more in 2012 (almost double that of 2011).  The other popular categories where people liked to shop were – books (15 per cent), beauty and personal care (10%), home and furnishing (6%), baby products (2%) and healthcare (3%), with the latter 3 categories also witnessing a 200% growth in the past year.

The most popular mode of payment of shopping via the internet was cash on delivery (at 55%), with debit card users being at 24%, leaving credit cards behind at a mere 19%

E-commerce is emerging to be the next big thing in India, a slap on the face of cynics who believed that online shopping could never become a reality here. Even though online shopping still remains a luxury that only the urban and middle class consumers can afford, there is no denying the fact that it’s here to stay. People in small towns are becoming internet savvy, thus making the conversion from visitors to shoppers inevitable.