'Online shoppers' traffic highest on Flipkart'

Bengaluru-based firm ahead by a strong margin, according to MasterCard survey

Flipkart is racing ahead of rivals Amazon and Snapdeal as the most visited e-commerce site in India.

The Bengaluru-based seven-year-old firm, according to the latest MasterCard online shopping survey, is ahead by a strong margin in attracting the highest traffic to its website for shopping.

Amazon and Snapdeal are at numbers two and three, respectively, while Ebay India is at number four. Niche shopping sites such as Jabong and Myntra are relatively lower than horizontal marketplace players such as Flipkart and Snapdeal.

The MasterCard Online Shopping Survey was conducted across 25 markets between October and December 2014.

The report for the Asia-Pacific region included a sample of 7,000 respondents from 14 markets aged 18-64 years.

According to the survey, online purchases made through mobile phones in India have grown by more than 100 per cent over the past two years, indicating a steep upward trend in e-commerce propelled by expediency. All the major e-commerce companies have been reporting that over about 50-60 per cent of their sales are coming via mobile sites/apps.

Among the findings of the survey, airlines have  the highest level of spending, followed by home appliances and electronic products, and travel. Other key categories are supermarkets and hypermarkets, clothing and accessories, and hotels.

According to the survey, sales on mobile site and apps reported mobile phone  and cinema tickets as the key categories followed by  clothing and music downloads.

Convenience is one of the key reasons for the exponential rise in sales coming from smartphones.

While mobile shopping seems to be the future, the most important improvement areas were free or minimal delivery charges, more user-friendly websites, real-time transactions and assurance of secure transactions.

Fewer people indicated ease of transactions, no additional service charges and enhancement of payment security as improvements over last year, revealed the survey.

Commenting on the survey, Vikas Varma, head, South Asia, MasterCard, said, "Digital payment solutions like mobile banking apps and digital wallets will go a long way to enrich the purchasing experience for the consumer. The survey shows there is a strong need to provide not only secure but also convenient payment solutions as consumers move to a more digital and sophisticated lifestyle."