According to technology giant, Google, the numbers of online shoppers in India will nearly treble from the current 35 million to 100 million by 2016.
Google India managing director, Rajan Anandan said most of these new online shoppers will come from tier I and II cities.
“The confidence to shop online is on the rise as 71 per cent of those (respondents) who said they do not shop online from tier I and II cities, plan to do so in the next 12 months," he told media persons.
A rise in internet penetration and growing preference for online shopping will drive the Indian ecommerce market to $15 billion by 2016, he said.
The Indian ecommerce market is currently estimated at about $3 billion by analysts.
Compared to just 8 million in 2012, about 35 million Indian consumers are now buying apparel, electronics, cosmetics, furniture, etc from online stores.
Anandan explained that of the 100 million online shoppers, around 40 million are expected to be women and that women buyers in tier I cities are driving growth and also outspending men by 2 times.
The research was conducted by Forrester Consulting across 6,859 respondents, of which over 60 per cent said buying online was directly correlated with social status.
The mobile phone also emerged as an important access device for online shoppers with one in three online buyers transacting online on mobile phones, while it was one in two respondents in tier III cities.
About 66 per cent respondents mentioned that they preferred shopping online for variety and convenience and also for discounts. (AR)
