Online buyers in India more likely to use mobile for regular purchase

Over 90 per cent of Indian consumers use mobile devices for quick and frequent purchases of travel, music and movies, according to a joint study by Yahoo and Mindshare titled Mobile Consumer Journey - 2016. Online shoppers are also more likely to use their mobile device to make regular or impulse purchases rather than expensive purchases.

Categories on the high growth quadrant - ranked by the number of consumers buying them on mobile over other modes - include apparel, electronic devices, baby and pet care products. Users are less likely to buy financial services products on mobile as they see these as more complex purchase decisions.

Meanwhile, of the consumers browsing for products on mobile, 79 per cent prefer buying on a mobile device compared to nine per cent on PC/laptop and 12 per cent in a physical store, while 31 per cent of online shoppers cite saving time or effort as their main reason for shopping online. The study shows that the consumer path-to-purchase is turning more complex and non-linear, with mobile at the centre of this evolution, said Francis Che, head of insights, APAC, Yahoo.