WHAT INDIA SEARCHES ON GOOGLE

Nowadays, mobile is considered more of a necessity than a luxury. With the increasing popularity of mobile in the past few years and the ease of availability of mobile internet at affordable rates, there is increasing dependence on mobiles. This world has more than 3 billion mobile internet users. That’s surely a huge number! India being one of the most populated countries, is contributing to this number to a great extent.

According to a Google report, over 30 million Indians are using the internet and six million new users joining in every month. As per the estimates, by 2017, Indian will cross the 500 million internet users line and more than 400 million Indians will own a smartphone. With the introduction of 4G services, there was an extraordinary increase of 200 percent in searches for devices compliant with the high-speed data network in 2015. We think it is safe to assume that internet users via mobile are bound to increase since mobile technologies are improving at an incredible speed. Google India has released a report which portrays the ever increasing growth of India with respect to its mobile internet users, on the basis of the key customer trends on the impact of smartphones across multiple industries.

Mobile internet is beginning to influence, and in many cases define, an Indian user’s first experience online- and the Industry is taking notice-Rajan Anandan, VP & Managing Director, Google India

Let us have a look on the mobile internet trends in India. Here are some interesting figures:

• Labelling mobile as the driving engine of the internet industry, the report captures how mobile phones with internet services are defining the new user experience. Over 50 percent of all the travel-related queries were searched via mobile.
• Who doesn’t access YouTube via mobile? Well, most of us do. This trend was also captured by Google in their reports which showed over 60 percent of views were now coming from mobile phones.
• In 2015, about 50 percent of women who shop online, purchased their beauty products on the internet.
• With over 200 million mobile internet users in India, 60 percent of all shopping related queries were asked via mobile.
•  With over 41 percent job-related searches were done over mobile phones.
• With the growing popularity of hyperlocal services, buying furniture and beauty products online, the report outlines the evolving behavior of internet users in India and their growing faith in shopping online. In 2015, more than 50 percent of women shopping online bought beauty products on the internet. There was 57 percent Year Over Year (y-o-y) growth in search queries on Google when it comes to home furnishing. Talking about hyperlocal services, there was 32 percent y-o-y growth  in search queries in metros registration.
• Indian mobile internet users depend over Google for anything to everything. From decorating homes to buying groceries, planning holidays to watching their favorite videos online, they relied on search engines like Google. According to the statistics, there is a strong correlation with search interest for cars to the actual sales.
  
  

  2015 was the year which saw the conception of whole new categories such as Standardized Accommodation, Hyperlocal services which now have established themselves as a strong and mainstream categories. Whereas other areas like Cab Services and Digital Payments developed their niche in 2015 powered by the internet and mobile technologies. There was a 173% growth in searches for carpooling and ride sharing and an 86% growth in searches for cab services.

Talking according to the cities, tier-2 cities are seeing next level growth driven from smartphones. In 2015, internet was used by older age groups to seek a variety of information. With the access of mobile internet services, there are new age platforms which were embraced  by the aged people. Searches related to used cars from non-metropolitan cities saw a rapid growth. With 3 in 4 searches for used car searches were coming from tier 2 cities. Also, searches related to real estate from the non-metropolitan cities saw an exceptional growth of 100 percent Year Over Year (y-o-y) growth. Searches for the used cars formed the largest share with 7 in 10 searches coming for used cars in the pre-owned category.

Since the internet is penetrating to a great extent in India and being one of the fastest emerging economies, the industry is also evolving. To serve the needs of its online users, the online industry is spreading its wings and evolving its services to a great extent. Products which are easy to adopt enabled by insurance and banking companies saw immediate opting with 1 in 4 users buying auto insurance online. When it comes to health insurance, over 50 percent queries came from mobile phones.

The play of multiplatform and omnichannel in eCommerce is seeing a new phase where offline marketers are going online extending their presence on the internet and online players launching their offline stores. Since telecom service providers app saw over 170 percent year over year growth in search queries, Telcos introduced fresh and convenient services with an aim to increase the customer satisfaction and engagement.

According to the research carried by Google in 2015, some massive trends which they outlined are an immense increase of 250 percent y-o-y in wearable electronic devices like fitness tracking accessories, A 55 percent increase in grocery related searches, and a massive 50 percent increase in online dating.

Seeing these trends, one can safely assume that the mobile internet searches are bound to increase with time. 2015 was a landmark year where the impact of mobile was seen in India. By 2017, India will have more than 500 million internet users. However, these next 100 to 200 million internet users will how different trends from those that are seen online today.

We all have smartphones and we all use that for different purposes. Drop a comment and let us know for which purpose you are relying on the mobile internet or would like to try. Also, here is a guide  for you if you want to know more about how can you leverage upon mobile marketing with the help of some tools and tricks.

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