India, fastest growing Internet market in APAC

BANGALORE: With about 3.1 million regular Internet users, India has emerged

as the fifth largest Internet user market in the Asia Pacific region excluding

Japan. This was revealed by a study conducted by Gartner India on Internet

surfing and buying behavior in the country. The study pointed out that India saw

the fastest rate of growth in the region in terms of the number of Internet

users this year.

Gartner has estimated that over 4.3 million people in the top eight cities in

the country have accessed the Net one time or the other. Of these, about 2.4

million users are regular Internet surfers. The study conducted in seven

metropolitan cities in India covered 3,000 families across the three

socio-economic categories. Usage demographics of 5,000 persons were obtained.

For the purpose of this study, an Internet user was defined as a person who

surfs the Net (not just for the purpose of accessing email) for at least one

hour every week.

Useful content was the single largest reason that forced people to return to

a particular site again and again. More than 50 per cent of the surfers said

useful content was the most important factor for them. ‘Easy to use/find

information’ and ‘easy to move from one part of the site to another’ were

the second and third most important preferences respectively. Download time was

the next, which indicated that the Indian surfer seemed to have got used to the

slow access speed. "This is in line with the figures of the developed

markets when they were in this stage. However, once the surfer is introduced to

better speeds, their priority could change," pointed out a Gartner

official.

Of the three most preferred locations–home, office and cyber cafes–60 per

cent said they surfed from cyber cafes. Over 30 per cent surfed from more than

one location. Under this category, the largest was the group that accessed the

Net from office and cyber cafes. However, a significant number of surfers surfed

from cyber cafes even when they had Net access at home.

The study pointed out that only 11 per cent of surfers have ever visited

Indian language sites, Hindi and Tamil being the most popular languages. One

fourth of these surfers said they visited these sites regularly.

About 54 per cent of surfers could not recall having visited any ‘new’

site during the last seven days. Of those who had tried out ‘new’ sites,

less than 20 per cent visited more than four ‘new’ sites.

Nearly half the surfers said that word of mouth was the primary reason that

made them try out a new site. This was followed by newspaper/magazine articles

and newspaper ads. Web site links, TV ads, search engine referrals and magazine

ads followed later. Among the least popular sources of awareness were outdoor

hoardings and banner ads.

The study revealed that on an average, a surfer clicked on a banner ad 0.74

times a week.

Among the home users, 55 per cent used the 100-hour accounts. While newer

ISPs are doing well in the 25-50 hours packages due to better promotions and

marketing alliances, the study revealed. About 78 per cent of the home users

have stuck with their first ISP.