Had we ever thought India would be the leading nation in terms of digital start-ups in the world? Yes, we made it to the top list after the United States, beating China. By 2020, India will have 11500 tech start-ups (NASSCOM,2015). These start-ups have changed the Indian market and purchasing behavior of consumers dynamically, with highly personalized and customized services.
Changing Trends in Purchase Behaviour
Consumer’s purchase behavior evolves around income, age group, demography, and technology. Digitization has made consumers shift from brick and mortar stores to online. For example, Indians never thought of Digital start-ups like AIRBNB and UBER to provide private transportation and lodging, SWIGGY, and ZOMATO for online food delivery. According to the BCG’s Digital influence study, the growth of online buyers is to climb from 300 million to 350 million by 2025, indicating a drastic shift in the purchasing behavior of Indian consumers.
Lifestyle
High-speed connectivity and increasing usage of smartphones have made Indian consumers (urban and rural) get influenced by western trends. The digital start-ups promoted more space, choice, and freedom to be experimental in their purchases.
Impulse Buy
Digitization has induced impulse buying in consumers to boost sales. The impulse buy is an unplanned purchase accounting for 30% to 40% of online purchases. They often respond to special discounts or the availability to make easy transactions on the go.
A shift from Seller’s market to Buyer’s market
Online businesses have taken a significant share of the Indian market and changed it from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market ( buyers are powerful, and sellers have to convince them to buy). It has brought tremendous change in society as well as in day-to-day lives. Digital start-ups offered new products to Indian markets, exposing consumers to different brands and various products.
Mix ‘n’ Match approach
Penetration of affordable mobile internet and inclusivity of e-commerce has made Indians use both online and offline channels (mix ‘n’ match) to purchase. Consumers started using the digital pathway to research for ideas and information about products and services. Moreover, the pandemic witnessed consumers opting for online retail to socially distance and minimize their time spent outdoors. But studies revealed consumers purchased the essentials such as food, personal hygiene, and household cleaning products offline. Knowing the pulse of consumers, the digital start-ups offer cross-channel purchasing where buyers can switch between online and offline as they can explore, shop, and buy.
The Future
The unique demography of India is an opportunity for any start-up to thrive and succeed. Digitization has made industrialists like Ratan Tata, Azim Premji, and many big shots step into start-ups (Ola, Myntra). Simultaneously technology is also changing consumers’ thoughts. Unique features like convenience, discounts, availability, and assortment have attracted consumers to change their traditional purchasing behavior to a digitized shift.
Moonhive understands the basic pulse of customers. Our products Oogyy and Daily Store were born as a result. They set examples of how we incorporate technology to avail the best and right choice to consumers. We lay sturdy basements for clients to meet their consumers’ expectations, engage them and keep up with the changing technology and consumer behavioral patterns to succeed.
