Hyderabadi women yet to warm up to online shopping

Women are generally considered better shoppers. Be it a roadside vendor or at a swanky mall, there's hardly any form of marketplace where the ladies don't drop in. However, if statistics are to be believed, in India when it comes to online shopping, these very ladies are a bit circumspect.

According to the data provided by eBay India, an online marketplace, 87 per cent of its users are male with just around 13 per cent being female.

"This mirrors the demographics of internet usage in India," says Samarjeet Singh, head- eBay Academy, that is basically a platform for potential sellers to learn about how to sell on eBay India.

From Hyderabad, eBay has just around five per cent users, (seven per cent from Andhra Pradesh) in spite of the city having an IT tag. And even here, the ratios are more skewed towards the male breed of humanity. Besides, the most popular products sold in Hyderabad are watches and jewellery followed by products like zoom cameras, discman, shavers and home theatre speakers.

So what's the reason for the lack of comfort level that women have with regard to online shopping? Says Avani Ekbote, media relations, Satyam Computer Services Limited, "I do have an account with an online marketplace. But there was no cash on delivery system for the items that I wanted to buy and I was a bit sceptical about giving my credit card number. So I dropped the idea of buying online."

Sriram Karri, from Tata Consultancy Services, however, gives his take on why women may not be comfortable with the idea of online shopping. "Women usually like the conventional form of shopping wherein they can see and feel the product before buying it. Besides, with the increasing number of malls coming up in the city, the concept of weekend shopping has caught on." Sriram has done online shopping and says that the reason why it is popular abroad is because the legal system there is dependable. "Besides, the weather makes it easier for people abroad to shop online," he adds. Incidentally, in countries like the US, women constitute around 40 per cent of the users of online marketplace.

Ayyappa Nagubandi, leader, TrulyIntelligent Technologies Private Limited, says that it's not the male or female factor that decides whether a person shops online or not.

"I have tried shopping online but the rates that they give over here are not very competitive. Besides, I am not very sure about how safe online shopping is in India."

Singh from eBay India says that now the medium is far more secure and dependable. "For instance, we have a 'Purchase Protection Programme' through which we ensure that if the buyer does not get the product for which he has paid for, we pay Rs 10,000 to the buyer. Besides, we have a secure gateway for enabling online bank transfers called 'Paisa Pay' in India," he says.

Nevertheless, he adds, "Now women are becoming more receptive to online buying. A number of housewives and women entrepreneurs are turning to eBay India to earn their living. They sell products like jewellery, salwar suits even feng shui items. And with more number of women becoming net-savvy, the gender gap is sure to reduce."