Indians prefer desktops over smartphones for online shopping, Criteo report

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Apr 13, 2017

Indian consumers prefer desktops over smartphones to browse e-commerce platforms for online shopping, according a report by Criteo S.A., a performance marketing technology company.

The report, titled The State of Cross-Device Commerce – India states that about 74% of the consumers use desktop as their first device for browsing, while only 24% use smartphones.

Criteo, headquartered in Paris, tracks online user behaviour for its e-commerce partners and tracks online transactions.

According to the report, Indian shoppers are moving towards multiple-device commerce with more than 51% of online shoppers using two or more devices for shopping online.

“India’s online shoppers have seen a paradigm shift in last decade. Adoption of a cross-device measurement strategy is a critical imperative for all retailers. The fierce competition of online players, increase of smartphones usage and internet penetration have resulted in an extended customer online journey across devices,” Dushyant Sapre, commercial director at Criteo was quoted by the Mint.

However, the report highlighted that smartphones remain a key device in cross-device buying and a dominant force behind the final purchase.

Out of total cross-device transactions, about 39% shoppers (while they may have used desktops as first devices for browsing but) use smartphones as final devices for purchase.

Purchases via desktop peak during work hours, while mobile devices dominate during non-office hours, the report said.

“The customer journey remains dynamic across devices, but mobile is showing a higher transaction rate. The ‘browse on your smartphone, buy on your desktop’ trend is officially dead,” the report said, adding that marketers can no longer afford to ignore these evolving shopping behaviours.