Online shopping to surge in 2013: Google India

With Indian internet users getting comfortable with the idea of buying products on Internet, online shopping in India has hit a tipping point and is expected to see exponential growth in 2013. This was revealed in a report compiled by Google India by combining consumer interest observed on Google search and online research conducted by TNS. The report highlights exponential growth in interest in online shopping by Indians as per data recorded on Google Trends. Online shopping in India, saw 128% growth in interest from the consumers in the year 2011 to 2012 in comparison to only 40% growth in 2010 to 2011, making 2012 the tipping point for online shopping in India.

In terms of product categories, consumer interest on Google search for apparels and accessories (30%) emerged as the second biggest product category after consumer electronics (34%) and is expected to become bigger than consumer electronics in 2013 in terms of absolute query volumes. Other categories that Indians searched for online were books (15%), beauty and personal care (10%), home and furnishing (6%), baby products (2%) and healthcare (3%).

The report also highlighted massive growth in niche product categories in 2011-2012 on Google search, in comparison to electronics, baby products, home and furnishing, and healthcare saw over 2x growth and were also the fastest growing product category in terms of query volume on Google search.

Speaking about the insights and implications for the online shopping industry players in India, Rajan Anandan, VP and MD of Google India, said "With approximately 8 mn Indians shopping online in 2012, online shopping industry in India is growing rapidly and will continue to see exponential growth. By looking at the trends in 2012, we expect 2013 to be a strong growth year for players who're focused on fast growing categories like apparels and accessories and niche product categories like baby products, home furnishings and health-nutrition. We expect the growth to come from outside of top 8 metros as was evident in our recently concluded 'Great Online Shopping festival' which saw over 51% of traffic from non-metros."

As per the research, 90% of online shoppers are planning to buy more products online which reflects on the positive experience of the users. In terms of top product categories ever purchased online, apparels & accessories was among the top category (84%), followed by electronics (71%), beauty & personal care (64%), books (62%) and household products (61%). The research also highlighted that baby products (39%), health & nutrition (43%) product category were also becoming popular with online buyers.

Methodology
The report was compiled by combining data from Google Trends and online research conducted by TNS Australia with a sample size of 800 respondents on behalf of Google India in November 2012.