More than 75 per cent of car buyers in India search online for reviews, comparative specifications, financial products and even used car markets before making a decision to purchase a car.
The inaugural edition of Consumer Querimetrix, a tool launched by Kotak Institutional Equities in collaboration with Google, focuses on the passenger car market. The report focuses on how the internet is changing the ground rules for car vendors and allied product and service providers.
“With over 300 million users online and growing, India today has a sizeable population which accesses the internet on a daily basis, making search queries as the most dynamic data input to arrive at consumer insights through machine learning as illustrated by Kotak’s research,” said Vikas Agnihotri, industry director, Google India. “If we look at the search trends related to car finance and car purchases, we’re seeing a 40% year on year growth in car purchase queries on Google in India.”
Over half of the people who evaluate car purchases change their consideration set during their research phase - adding two to three new car models in their consideration, he adds. The only non-negotiables are price and colour of the car. “This alone proves the growing complexity for car OEMs in the country. With this report we’re attempting to demystify this changing consumer behavior into actionable insights for the industry.”
Source : BS Motoring