Online shoppers trust peer-to-peer marketing: Study

A majority of visitors e-commerce sites visitors have adopted
the Internet as a shopping medium. This was concluded in a study done by
Internet & Mobile Association (IAMAI) of India. The study was conducted to
better understand the consumer 'referral' behavior across shopping categories. The study found that 55 percent of visitors to
e-commerce sites shop online. The study was conducted with a base of 1,240
respondents who shop online. Commenting on the release of the report, Dr Subho Ray, President, IAMAI said, "Referrals given by online shoppers
work because they come from a trusted source since the messenger, the consumer,
is more credible and trusted than the advertiser or marketer".

52 percent of respondents believe that consumer reviews are
important which indicates the importance of consumer review sites. The study
also established the dominance of the P2P reference in the online shopping
space:

31 percent respondents found the shopping sites through word of mouth and 18
percent shopped online through word of mouth endorsement.

25 percent of regular shoppers fall under the18-25 age group, 46 percent are
in the 26-35 age group and 18 percent are in the

36-45 age group. 85 percent of online shoppers are male while only a 15 percent
are female; 67 percent of online shoppers have shopped online as recently as
three months showcasing the growing acceptance of e-commerce. 53 percent of
on-line shoppers have shopped online more than five times, while 27 percent of
online shoppers have shopped online more than 10 times.