Online consumers in India look beyond discounts

Almost 90 per cent of online consumers in India look beyond discounts in shopping and are willing to pay for a variety for value adds, according to a Google survey. The value adds include faster delivery, extended warranty and hassle-free returns.

The study on digital retail, carried out with consulting firm A T Kearney, projects that e-tail will become a substantial channel for the organised retail sector and contribute 25 per cent of the organised retail sales by 2020, from 15 per cent at present. Online shoppers are expected to grow from 50 million to 175 million.

The survey says that consumer interest in online shopping has almost doubled in the last 12 months, with 60 per cent of the total number of online shoppers in non-metros. To meet the growing demand, online sellers are seen to need to grow five times by 2020.

Women shoppers will increase five times, from 15 million to 75 million, and double their share of online spend, while cashless transactions are expected to cross cash-on-delivery, which now constitutes 55 per cent of all transactions in e-tail, the survey adds.