Online Shopping (img: Freepik)

A post-COVID surge in the preference over brick-and-mortar shops to online shopping was the highlight of an Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) study, where 72% of Indians revealed that they prefer shopping over the web in the last three years.

Online shopping in India has provided an array of benefits to customers, ranging from convenience to cash.

Many of the oncoming and ongoing generations spend heavily online for their basic and branded needs, according to a study conducted by the IIM-A centre for digital transformation (CDT).

This study on digital retail channels and customers was conducted with insights taken from 35,000 customers of 65 enterprise representatives located in the country’s 25 states.

Findings from this study

Male customers, as compared to females, were found to be in excess in numbers as well as in expenditure amount (35%) while shopping online, according to the report.

On average, a customer spends ₹965 after fashion and clothes, ₹4,304 on electronic products, and ₹1,848 after daily grocery items.

Female customers were found to be shopping online the most for fashion and clothing, while males bought electronic items the most.

Women, as compared to men, deemed online shopping more convenient.

All customer classes, ranging from those of tier 1 cities to tier 4, have opted for online shopping, says the report.

Customers from tier 2 to tier 4 cities have made 77% more online transactions than those from tier 1.

These transactions were made every 30–35 minutes. Recent transactions of 90% of customers are found to be less than ₹10,000.

65% of the customers have bought a single product online, while 35% have bought different ones.

65% of them opt for cash on delivery (CoD) mode while shopping online.

As per the CDT’s chairperson and the chair professor of information systems, Pankaj Setia, the survey was conducted based on four different aspects, namely, the customer’s search patterns and leniency towards online shopping, their expenditure on online shopping, the customer’s choice, and their understanding of the benefits availed of shopping online or potential benefits.

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