Consumers from Tier 2, 3 and 4 towns are proving to be big spenders online, finds a new report by the IIM- Ahmedabad. The survey report titled ‘Digital Retail Platforms and Consumer Emotions: An Indian Perspective,’ says that consumers from smaller cities (Tier 2 to Tier 4) spent up to 77 per cent more than those from Tier 1 cities in their last online order. Nearly 72 per cent of consumers started shopping online in the last one to three years, hinting at a surge during the pandemic.
The report has some interesting insights on shopper behaviour by gender and age. Male consumers spent 36 per cent more money than female consumers in their last online shopping transaction. Female consumers shopped more for clothing and fashion products, whereas men shopped for electronic products. The median spending (of ₹1,500) is more by consumers over 50 years of age, finds the report, indicating that older age groups are also actively purchasing online. On the other hand, consumers up to 35 years of age like to spend more, and a higher proportion of them spend over ₹10,000.
Content viewing choices
A new research report by the Boston Consulting Group undertaken for Meta shows the increasing influence of digital in driving media and entertainment consumption in India. Significantly, the report finds that contrary to popular belief, women, small towns, and older age groups are just as influenced by digital as men, large towns, and younger age groups in their viewing choices. For instance, among OTT watchers, after consuming the content, 78 per cent of the surveyed men said that they use digital to engage with the content. This number was equally high at 77 per cent for women.
Similarly, before watching something on OTT, more people from smaller towns (81 per cent) use digital for content discovery than people from large towns (74 per cent). Moreover, contrary to popular belief, digital discovery is on the upswing, even for linear TV, with linear TV viewers increasingly seeking information and engagement online for the content they watch.