Smartphone users still prefer websites for e-shopping

Even as Indians are increasingly taking to smartphones but they still prefer websites for online shopping than using shopping applications on the device, according to a survey.

Close to 25 per cent of smartphone-users in country prefer to shop online than use shopping apps, a study by research firm Nielsen said.

"When it comes to accessing content on the smartphone, there has been an increasing preference for apps over websites.

"However, in the shopping genre, the smartphone audience still prefers websites," the study said.

"Shopping apps are still in a very nascent stage with just 3 per cent of smartphone users accessing them.

On the other hand, 1 in 4 (25 per cent) smartphone users access shopping websites at least once a month, clearly indicating a preference for the website platform," it added.

According to the study, a greater percentage of smartphone-users aged over 40 years, access shopping properties at least once a month.

The data is culled from the responses given by over 10,000 smartphone-users in the survey conducted by Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights in October 2012.

According to the survey, it was found that more smartphone-users aged between 25 and 35 years engaged in m-commerce.

Of these, 8 per cent said that they have made online purchases on their devices, which is higher than any other age group.

The study said that Flipkart is the most popular shopping website with a reach of 5 per cent closely followed by eBay at 4 per cent.

As far as shopping apps are concerned, eBay has the highest penetration with just over 1 per cent of smartphone-users accessing the app at least once a month, while Flipkart comes in second with a reach of just under one per cent.