Up to 98 percent of Indian consumers, who have access to the internet have made a purchase online, according to a new report.

The 2018 Nielsen Connected Commerce Report, which looks at consumers’ online purchasing habits in India, reported that ecommerce category travel recorded 69 percent of online transactions, fashion recorded 66 percent and IT & mobile recorded 63 percent.

Meanwhile, the categories posting the most significant growth in ecommerce channel include packaged grocery, where 40 percent of online consumers said they made a purchase (21 percent growth on a base growth rate of 33 percent in 2017), fresh groceries (growth of 17 percent moving to 41 percent as against 35 percent in 2017) and baby & children products (up 10 percent to 32 percent as against 29 percent in 2017).

Coming to global online grocery purchasing, it's up 15 percent in the last two years, leading to an estimated $70 billion additional sales in online fast moving consumer goods (FMCG).

In India, with growing consumer trust and confidence within online buying ecosystem, ecommerce channel has evolved significantly and in the past two years has grown its share by as much as three times, within total FMCG retail sales.

“Travel, fashion and IT/ mobile products are typical categories for first-time online shoppers, but as their familiarisation, comfort and trust levels increase, their category repertoire expands into areas like beauty, personal care and baby products, and then moves even wider afield to packaged and fresh grocery categories, and this is evidenced in the significant jump we’ve seen in online purchasing within grocery and food delivery in recent years," observes Sameer Shukla, executive director – retail measurement services, Nielsen – South Asia.

The report reveals that consumers are more open to purchase packaged and fresh groceries online, when they are offered certain purchasing options and quality assurances.

About 60 percent of consumers pointed towards the need to offer and improve hassle free refund, replacement experience as well as free cost delivery - if offered, would boost their confidence to buy online with higher frequency.

"A few years ago e-commerce purchase was focused on non-perishable goods such as travel, fashion and books, but over time we are seeing a rise in purchases across new categories. Looking ahead, the next wave of evolution in online purchasing behaviour will likely be driven by innovations in digital capabilities like personalised recommendations based on programmatic consumption and online behaviour," added Shukla.

First Published:Dec 17, 2018 5:30 PM IST