New Criteo Research Shows the Indian Market is Ripe for Online Advertising Disruption

The online shopping market in India holds tremendous potential as it has some of the largest consumer segments across each e-commerce category, and it is focused on innovation, research and development, making it one of the leading e-commerce markets in the world. Advertising and technological advancements have led to better personalised experiences as it allows the communication of hyper-personalised messages that resonate with the target customer. In light of this, Criteo, the advertising platform for the open Internet, unveiled the survey report titled ‘Why We Buy’. The survey was conducted across 10 countries, with over 10,000 respondents split almost evenly over all countries. The report in respect of India highlights that 90% of Indian consumers are willing to consider a new brand across all the shopping/product categories, which is the highest compared with consumers from the other countries surveyed.

The report for India also throws light on various aspects such as brand values- more than one in four shoppers said they stopped shopping with a brand whose values weren’t aligned with their personal beliefs. Loyalty depends on more than just low prices- while respondents in the study did appreciate value for money, customer service was the most important consideration, followed by product selection and what the brand stands for. The report also gave us insights into how consumers discover brands, with omnichannel discovery on YouTube, Facebook and websites as the top channels – but they were far from being the only source. Relevance makes a difference- 66% of Indians like that online ads can help them in discovering new products, while 57% like online ads for reminding them of products they’re interested in, and 51% like that online ads offer discounts for products.

Sharing his thoughts on the outcomes from the report, Siddharth Dabhade, Managing Director, Criteo India, said, ‘It has been phenomenal to witness the Indian consumer behaviour and we are glad to share this on a larger platform for the benefit of the Indian advertising industry which has evolved from being a small-scaled business to a full-fledged industry. It has been phenomenal to witness the advancements of technological innovation in advertising over the years. The shift of ad spending from traditional to digital media is happening at a rapid pace. The advertising and marketing sector in India is expected to enjoy a good run. Growth is expected in retail advertisement, on the back of factors such as several players entering the food and beverages segment, e-commerce gaining more popularity in the country, and domestic companies testing out the waters.’

Other Key Insights

49.4% of Indian survey participants stopped shopping from a brand that they were loyal to before because of poor customer service
83.3 % said YouTube helps them most to discover new brands
60.9% would try a new brand for the first time because it provides a discount that is personalized and relevant, and this also appears to be the best way to gain customer loyalty
44.4% strongly agree that their purchasing decision is affected by a company’s mission/values
Customer service is still key as it is the main reason for remaining with a brand (62.3%), or for leaving if customer service is poor (49.4%)
Consumers are least loyal to Groceries brands, and are most loyal to Jewelry & Luxury Goods