[libranof1987]

In what can be termed as a massive "coming of age" of the Indian customer base, 89% of the car buyers engage in a digital search during their purchase process.

Given the wealth of information online: right from the websites of manufacturers themselves where you can know everything about cars, to those such as Team-BHP where you can expect an honest discussion on everything related to cars (and beyond), to those such as the Euro NCAP where you understand how safe a car is, an average person has every possible information available to make a very informed decision on the purchase.

How this will work brilliantly for the customers eventually is: more "aware" the customers get, more "intelligent" their purchase decision will be. And this is where half-truths and incapabilities or shortcomings will be exposed. Case in point: a certain manufacturer who falsely advertised an inferior India-spec car to be an award-winning very different global car.

And this will result in offerings that are on par with global markets.

As a result of massive internet penetration in India, the number of digitally influenced Indian car buyers has increased from 75% in 2016 to 89% in 2017, according to a recent report by Google India and Kantar TNS.

Gabri Herrmann, Kantar TNS said: “The modern auto shopper walks into the dealership armed with a staggering array of information. Delivering on research needs and inspiring the consumer is critical -- brands that succeed in this will win the sale."

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/12/...and-kantar-tns

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/12/...and-kantar-tns

I seriously doubt the data points. The numbers seem too high for a market like India. I will believe the numbers if the analysis was for Urban only. But with semi urban and rural into the picture, the number are overhyped.

I think this is Google's marketing gimmick where they prove to OEMs that digital is the way to go. The OEMs who believe this, will reallocate marketing spend to online channels. And guess who is the most popular online channel?

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

But with semi urban and rural into the picture, the number are overhyped.

It is possible that numbers are reasonable.

1. Smartphones + data plans are increasingly available and affordable in semi urban areas.
2. Content is increasingly available in vernacular language. For example, these reviews :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1HR9lVTVkY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwznY1TaRvo

[adi_gt]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

I seriously doubt the data points. The numbers seem too high for a market like India. I will believe the numbers if the analysis was for Urban only

+1 to that. IMHO if this was the case, unsafe cars from Maruti (read Wagon R and Estillo) couldn't have been such big and resounding success. In India, a person is heavily influenced by myths around a car and especially for the manufacturer. I can not understand that Wagon R still sells more than Ignis and Celerio . The influence from family and peers is also one big factor.

Disclaimer : Nothing against people and members who have Wagon R from Maruti. It' just an opinion.

[thesilentone]

I feel that whatever people browse and check out, it will not influence the buying decision for a majority of Indians. The keys to the cars that finally come home are influenced by friends, neighbours, brand, resale value, mileage and least priority is given to the actual merits of the car. Do in India as the Indians do.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by adi_gt

a person is heavily influenced by myths around a car and especially for the manufacturer.

Digital mediums provide ways for such "myths" to spread even further. A "which car" query / discussion on a collage or family group will amplify such perceptions.

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

It is possible that numbers are reasonable. [list=1][*]Smartphones + data plans are increasingly available and affordable in semi urban areas.[*] Content is increasingly available in vernacular language

We need to factor in smartphone penetration and apply 3G data penetration factor on the smartphone penetration factor. On top of this, we need to apply the factor of IT literacy, all three combined cant be above 70 percent tops in a optimistic scenario.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

I seriously doubt the data points. The numbers seem too high for a market like India. I will believe the numbers if the analysis was for Urban only. But with semi urban and rural into the picture, the number are overhyped.

Permit me to disagree. Both my drivers (partially educated in Hindi) and both our maids (one 10th fail; one 6th pass) browse the net in languages they are comfortable in, do net banking on their phones and 2 of the 4 have a facebook page! 5 years ago all of these were not common or not possible. The younger maid sent a friend request to my wifey. Talk of social surprise.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

In what can be termed as a massive "coming of age" of the Indian customer base, 89% of the car buyers engage in a digital search during their purchase process.

Yes. Fully agree.

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

It is possible that numbers are reasonable. [list=1][*]Smartphones + data plans are increasingly available and affordable in semi urban areas.[*] Content is increasingly available in vernacular language.

Absolutely so.

The socio-economic-awareness fabric in India is changing and changing faster than we the educated upper middle class think. The smart phone and spread of digital content in vernacular Indian languages are wonderful social & economic levelers. They could help bridge the socio gap that two generations of socialist Govt policies could not. My elder driver's son got married last month. They decided to buy him a bike. He works at Maruti in the accounts dept. They checked on line, consulted me and bought what they liked. My driver sends me SMS's in Hindi.

Times change. The feudal divide shrinks.

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Permit me to disagree. Both my drivers (partially educated in Hindi) and both our maids (one 10th fail; one 6th pass) browse the net in languages they are comfortable in, do net banking on their phones and 2 of the 4 have a facebook page! 5 years ago all of these were not common or not possible. The younger maid sent a friend request to my wifey. Talk of social surprise.

Times change. The feudal divide shrinks.

I think both scenarios you mentioned are in a Urban set up where internet connectivity is good. This whole ecosystem is feeding off each other. But as you move to rural areas, where electrification is an issue! Imagine what will be the condition of smartphone adoption with 3G. We sitting in urban cities like Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi have a lens which is developed basis what we see around us. Our drivers and maids earn upto 15k per month, hence can afford cheap smartphones or used smartphones. This changes dramatically in rural India where people are working at 100 INR per day rates.

Hence my reservation. A smart company like google knows that most marketing gurus are people like us & operate in Urban / metro setups only and this article seems to be like a marketing material from them.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

I seriously doubt the data points.

Yes and no.

When the report says 89% of Indian car buyers, it obviously doesn't mean, 89% of ALL car buyers across India.

The report doesn't mention the actual demographic used in this research but 89% represents the sample size taken for the research. It is but natural to extrapolate this finding from the sample size to "India". Common with how surveys are carried out. Of course, they will be lop-sided.

But, I would still imagine the % is now fairly high. Smartphones and how freely information is available makes finding information terribly easy. The most common reaction to a question since the last decade has been, "let's Google this".

Originally Posted by thesilentone

I feel that whatever people browse and check out, it will not influence the buying decision for a majority of Indians. The keys to the cars that finally come home are influenced by friends, neighbours, brand, resale value, mileage and least priority is given to the actual merits of the car. Do in India as the Indians do.

Agree. But the very act of browsing and checking out does play a small factor in the decision.

And how is it that these neighbors/friends/colleagues give out that information? They themselves probably read it somewhere.

BHPian blackwasp (who worked as a SA in a dealership) commented on some other thread how a lot of prospective customers he interacted with did ask him questions on safety features.

[SmartCat]

I agree with the naysayers. I seriously doubt the veracity of this data.

In terms of the information being sought, the report shows that 41% are vehicle safety tests; 41% showcase the technology and features of the car; 38% are on performance and 33% of them are customer reviews.

41% are vehicle safety tests? Yeah, right.

[Lone Ranger]

Fully side with the skeptics on this one - statistics can easily be used to suit the purpose of the presenter. The reason why statistics is such a powerful tool is because the average person tends to place faith in numbers, especially when numbers seem so precise. In this particular case, at first glance, there are some issues with the numbers.
1) Like others have pointed out, how was the sample constructed? For example, if you do a survey among the 20-30 year old graduate/post graduate urban white collar officegoers, earning a minimum of ten lakhs per annum, you will find close to 100 percent wear only mainstream branded apparel. In reality, the organized apparel market share in India will be well below 10 percent.
2) What is the strength of correlation between internet search and actual purchase? For example, as a car guy, I might search everyday for Ferrari and Porsche reviews/news, but my actual ability to buy them is ZERO.
The only way to validate these numbers would be to check parameters (like the above) against which google arrived at the result. Which of course won't be forthcoming because like 2000rpm said, Google didn't do the survey as a public service

[procrj]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

In what can be termed as a massive "coming of age" of the Indian customer base, 89% of the car buyers engage in a digital search during their purchase process.

The 89% number can be right depending on the definition of 'digital search' - if opening a carwale ad/maruti webpage for a brand is considered a search, then this number can be right.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

The smart phone and spread of digital content in vernacular Indian languages are wonderful social & economic levelers

Completely agree. I was surprised to see mobile phone reviews in tamil/telugu and other Indian languages and if you look closely at the comments on them, you will clearly see that a lot of these folks are from tier 2/3 cities & towns.

I work in advertising and mobile in India has been a big play for many many years. We Urban folks think that only with a 3G/4G connection we can access most websites but today there are intermediaries which provide information which is easily accessible even on phones with 2G.

Here are some stats about Internet penetration in India

Internet users in India has doubled in the last 3 years. Simply from a numbers viewpoint, its not possible for Urban centers to account for that growth, which implies that Tier 2/3 cities also are adding significantly to this base.





Having said that, here is a quote from a report in March 2017

IAMAI/Kantar IMRB reported that 59% of urban dwellers were internet users, compared with just 17% of those in rural environments.

Still dont believe me? I came across an example that I stumbled upon in Quora which made me sit up and reassess my assumptions about internet penetration in India. Unable to find that post but the question was ' do low income people in india use internet' or something similar and the best answer was by a Kid from Tamil Nadu who had posted images of his farm and stable where he/his parents work. He also went on to explain how he is learning stuff online using a very basic mobile phone that was gifted to him by his friend - the mobile saves his the trip to an internet center in the nearest town, which is ~5-6 km away. The above is the gist of the post - will try to find the link to the original post.

Also need to understand that most car buyers (i.e those who have the financial means to purchase a car) in the semi urban India will have a mobile with watsapp and all they need to have done is click on some car video/link - it can be a review, small clip by someone they know, who has purchase a new car etc. and they will be counted as someone who has used a 'digital channel' to evaluate/search for car.

Originally Posted by smartcat

41% are vehicle safety tests? Yeah, right

This is just nonsense. Even in Urban India, I dont think 41% of search will be around safety.

Originally Posted by Lone Ranger

What is the strength of correlation between internet search and actual purchase? For example, as a car guy, I might search everyday for Ferrari and Porsche reviews/news, but my actual ability to buy them is ZERO.

Today Ad Tech is so advanced that a user can easily be tracked across devices and sites. Hence if your time window is large enough, you can always make the case that person A searched for a Car on some day and ended up buying a car at some later point in time.

All said and done, it comes down to a couple of things:
1. What is the definition of 'digital search'
2. What is the window of time that you are considering for correlating the search and car purchase

[blackwasp]

The exact contents of the report many not align with reality - e.g. safety tests, but it is quite possible that the overall numbers are close to reality - I know people who buy cars with airbags as they have been told that it is safer. It's altogether a different matter than no one has told them the use of seatbelts.

Smart phone did something wonderful to the people in India. Not only did it give them access to internet services, it has also made them tech-savvy to an extent. Basic tasks like messaging, taking photos, video calls, etc. have changed the way of life for the better. The entry cost of internet was also significantly lowered thanks to smartphones. My grandmother (almost 80), can now send pictures over Whatsapp, watch videos online and at times search some information online, which would have earlier been designated to me.

However, while information is accessible at the touch of fingertips, there is no way to ensure its accuracy. Its a boon as well as a bane. Judging by the quality of Whatsapp forwards these days, I can definitely say that its easy to influence someone who thinks that any information on the web is accurate.

Quoting myself from my experience as working as a sales person. If the car maker that sells 1 out of 2 cars sold in India, gets such a customer, surely the other brands would get one as well.

Originally Posted by blackwasp

• I understood the mentality of the Indian car buyer and what makes him tick. It might seem that a Maruti customer might just walk in and book the car, but he / she has done enough research on the product and the competitors. The company has also managed to offer products that the people want and have combined it with good service network, reliable products, frugal cost of running etc.

[NetfreakBombay]

Came across this article "Why the future of online video consumption lies in Moradabad, not Mumbai" articles talks about similar areas that were explored in this thread, E.g.:

1. Internet (and Internet Video) penetration in small-town India
2. How does it compare to Metros

A snippet from article :

“This pyramid has been completely inverted. In a world that does not fear data charges, video is very often the first port of call for new data users.” Nine in 10 Indians watch videos on their smartphones, Hotstar’s report said.

If we extrapolate this to video about cars, this should mean that anyone who is contemplating a car will spend some time going through video reviews, "what car" videos etc.

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

I seriously doubt the data points. The numbers seem too high for a market like India. I will believe the numbers if the analysis was for Urban only. But with semi urban and rural into the picture, the number are overhyped.

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

It is possible that numbers are reasonable.

1. Smartphones + data plans are increasingly available and affordable in semi urban areas.

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

We need to factor in smartphone penetration and apply 3G data penetration factor on the smartphone penetration factor. On top of this, we need to apply the factor of IT literacy, all three combined cant be above 70 percent tops in a optimistic scenario.

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

I think both scenarios you mentioned are in a Urban set up where internet connectivity is good. This whole ecosystem is feeding off each other. But as you move to rural areas, where electrification is an issue!

Originally Posted by procrj

Completely agree. I was surprised to see mobile phone reviews in tamil/telugu and other Indian languages and if you look closely at the comments on them, you will clearly see that a lot of these folks are from tier 2/3 cities & towns.

I work in advertising and mobile in India has been a big play for many many years. We Urban folks think that only with a 3G/4G connection we can access most websites but today there are intermediaries which provide information which is easily accessible even on phones with 2G.