Internet in India
Back in 2006, Google predicted that India would become the biggest online market in the world. They may just have been right. The potential for e-commerce in this massive region of 1.13 billion people is very promising. India is now ranked fourth in the world in terms of internet population with 81 million internet users. This only represents seven per cent of India’s population.
Online shoppers
JuxtConsult reported a massive increase between 2006 and 2008 of online shoppers in India, from 12 to 19 million. “A client was looking to attract Indian visitors to London to use its travel and limousine facilities. A very popular key phrase used by Indian searchers was ‘LHR’. Many Indians search for airport information with this term, adding it onto phrases like ‘hotel’ and ‘apartment’.”
This form of searching is unique to India. The client optimised their website for natural search and paid search with these phrases, and received 250 per cent uplift in conversions and enquiries through the site.
Search behaviours
One of the most important Indian search providers is Rediff, which is the largest local search engine in India. Rediff offers comprehensive pay-per-click campaigns for its sites. By volume, it often delivers at a higher rate than Google and commonly at a far cheaper cost-per-acquisition. As Indian searchers are more familiar with Rediff, they are more likely to convert on their ads too.
Language matters
Since most of India’s consumer mass is formed of people who speak local languages, these languages are becoming increasingly important in online commerce. There are 23 official languages recognised by the Indian constitution, and they delve off into over a thousand dialects. The language Indian’s use online is a version of English uniquely couched in Indian culture.It is thought that Hindi may join Chinese and English in the top three internet languages.
Social networking/blogging
Over two-thirds of Indian web users use social networking sites frequently, an increase of 40 per cent since last year. The top Indian social networking site is Orkut. Blogging has been slow to catch on in India, with only a third of online users reporting being involved with blogs in any way.
Rural netizens
Internet usage in rural India exploded by nearly 70 times between 2000 and 2007. This represents about seven times more online growth than in the cities. A 2008 JuxtConsult study shows that one in five Indian internet users now come from rural areas.
The tiger gets the last word
India is one of the most culturally, linguistically and genetically diverse regions in the world. These differences are beginning to shape the face of the internet, as opposed to the other way around. Marketers wishing to target India will do well to acquaint themselves with the diverse Indian cultures and languages, so as not to be left behind.
Greig Holbrook is the managing director of international search engine optimisation company www.obanmultilingual.com. Views expressed are personal.
