Indians are online shopping savvy: Survey

livemint.com: January 29, 2008

70% of the Indians who are active on the web world said they bought airline tickets/reservations on the Internet in the last three months
New York: More than 85% of the world's online population has used the Internet to make a purchase increasing the market for online shopping by 40% in the past two years, points out the latest Nielsen Global Online Survey on Internet shopping habits. Globally, more than half of Internet users have made at least one purchase online in the past month, said the survey.
Indians are one of the the most online shopping savvy people when it comes to using credit cards since 84% of Indian online shoppers did so just behind Turkish online shoppers who topped global rankings for credit card usage (91%) for online purchases followed by 86% of Irish online shoppers.
While globally books, electronics items along with clothes are mostly bought over the net, 70% of the Indians who are active on the web world said they bought airline tickets/reservations on the Internet in the last three months.
Among Internet users, the highest percentage shopping online is found in South Korea, where 99% of those with Internet access have used it to shop, followed by the UK, Germany and Japan with 97% each with the US eighth, at 94%.
Globally, the most popular and purchased items over the Internet are Books (41% purchased in the past three months), Clothing/Accessories/Shoes (36%), Videos / DVDs / Games (24%), Airline Tickets (24%) and Electronic Equipment (23%).
The survey points out that the number of Internet consumers buying books over the Internet has increased seven per cent in the past two years but the biggest increase has been in Clothing / Accessories / Shoes which increased from 20% to 36%.
eBay stood first among the most preferred site for online shopping followed by Amazon and Target.
"The Internet is no longer a niche technology -- it is mass media and an utterly integral part of modern life. Almost no aspect of life remains untouched by online media. As our lives become more fractured and cluttered, it isn't surprising that consumers turn to the unrivalled convenience of the Internet when it comes to researching and buying products," says Jonathan Carson, President, International, Nielsen Online.
In the first survey 2 years ago approx. only 10% of the world's population (627 million) had shopped online. Within two years, this number has increased by approximately 40% (to 875 million).