 "E-commerce")
Prompt delivery is the most important factor in choosing an online platform for urban Indians, and they are ready to pay a premium price for it, a report released on Thursday said. It, however, added that in the rest of the country, consumers focus on discounts and offers.
These findings were revealed in the "How India shops online: Consumer preferences in the metropolises and tier 1-4 cities" report released by PwC India based on the survey of 2,100 respondents.
The urban dwellers in India are defined as those living in cities with a population of over 1 million.
"Urban dwellers, who prioritise speed in online shopping, are particularly drawn to prompt delivery services which meet their demand for instant gratification and are willing to pay a premium price for the same," the report said, adding that in the rest of India, the consumers are "bargain and discount hunters".
Somick Goswami, partner and business transformation leader at PwC India said, "The next phase of growth for e-commerce will be driven by the new digitally savvy consumers of tier 2,3 and 4 cities in India. In contrast to urban dwellers, these individuals, constrained by limited access to physical stores and brand choices, consider online shopping a gateway to fulfil their aspirations."
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It also highlighted the reasons why Indians want to shop online.
"The lack of discounts and special offers in physical stores, along with large crowds in malls during weekends are some of the reasons why urban dwellers prefer to shop online," it said.
For the rest of the Indians, the main reasons to shop online are the absence of physical stores for premium brands, stockouts of certain products, and a lack of knowledgeable staff in offline stores.
Interestingly, Indians, irrespective of their geographic location, prefer to shop via apps over websites of e-commerce companies.
"The factors for this preference are ease of navigation, simplified user interface (that complies to global standards) and vernacular support," it said. "Marketplace apps often also get downloaded more since they cater to a wide range of categories."
It added that consumers prefer human interaction over chatbots for customer service and assistance.
