Indian smartphone users are smart shoppers too: eBay

Digital commerce is gaining traction with Indian smartphone users with almost 68% of them having made an online purchase using their smartphone, said a survey by eBay.

eBay India shared key habits of Mobile Commerce Users in India. The findings are based on eBay India Mobile Commerce Survey conducted with over 4,500 eBay India users in May 2012.

Muralikrishnan B, Country Manager, eBay India said, “Mobile Commerce is starting to gain traction in India with the burgeoning smart phone penetration and a large number of Indians now use their smart phone to shop as well as compare prices,” 

Shopping is the third most popular category of search after emails and social networking, with 70% of smart phone users access online shopping websites. 

The survey further highlighted that over 94% of Indian smartphone users access the internet on their mobile. The survey results indicated that a large majority of Indian smart phone users are accessing the mobile internet and as many as 64% of them have upgraded to 3G services. As many as 80% of the respondents claimed to be always on the internet. 

Comparing product prices online is more popular than travel tickets, movie timing or contact details, with 87% of the surveyed base agreeing that they compare product prices.

Almost 57% of smart shoppers check prices online before they shop in a mall or a store. Over 30% of users have stated that they always find better deals online and 49% have stated that they ‘mostly’ find better deals online.