Urban Indian net users are increasingly using digital means of entertainment and aspiring to upgrade to a lifestyle that is digitally driven. Not without reason, for consumers now do not buy products or brands � they buy lifestyles, asserts a report of Internet users in the country's urban areas.
The digital way of life is increasingly dominating Net users’ choice of spending time at home. Net surfing is the most preferred pastime at home already for one in every five such users. It is the third most popular pastime at home � some 21 per cent do it, and is not far behind the top two choices � watching television and listening to music. The three digital forms of entertainment together are dominating home lives. Social interaction has to fit the scheme of these things, or else is left out.
These are some of the many findings laid threadbare by one of the largest online surveys conducted by JuxtConsult in April 2005 among Internet users in India. The survey sampled more than 30,000 individuals to unravel the identity of Net users along with their lifestyle choices, acording to cpmpany sources. To estimate the penetration of the Internet among urban Indians, a telephonic survey of 3,000 people was also executed in 10 cities. JuxtConsult is a joint effort of Indicus Analytics and Webchutney.
The lifestyle of Net users is gearing up gradually towards a more �integrated’ and �digitised’ way of living. And that is increasingly determining not only how they spend time at home or when they go out, but also what products, value-added features and brands they choose and prefer. The marketers who are using the Net to reach to these consumers must catch these lifestyle trends to fit in and remain relevant, or they face the threat of being left out of the shopping basket of these netsumers, the report says.
Net surfing at home is more popular among housewives than is with working women. Though housewives constitute only a miniscule proportion of urban Indian Net users, it may be seen as a pointer for Internet marketers.
The digital wave is also reflected in the kind of gadgets netsumers (as the report dubs consumers with access to the Internet) want to buy to enliven their lifestyles. Camera equipped mobile phones; computers, digital cameras, DVD and MP3 audio systems, home theatre systems, fully automatic washing machines, microwaves and air conditioners top their buying agendas.
Netsumers associate success very highly with monetary success and their top role models are the rich and famous like Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan, Dhirubhai Ambani, LNMittal and Narayana Murthy. Only President APJ Abdul Kalam stands out for his success without any money factor involved in the top ten.
Net users essentially look up to only Indians as their role models. Bill Gates is the only foreigner in their Top 20 list. The next foreigner is Michael Schumacher at number 38. Teenage Net users look up to their fathers as role models. Male users, however, do not cite any women. On the other hand, female netizens do not share any such bias and their idols of success belong to both sexes.
The Web also serves as the favourite medium for communications. The Internet is also the preferred way to keep in touch with news for 42 per cent users. Television follows at number two with 32 per cent, followed thereafter by newspapers. Magazines, mobiles or radios are fairly insignificant.
The Big Four of the Indian media predominate the Net users’ mindspace across the country. Star TV among TV channels, Times of India among newspapers, India Today among magazines, and Radio Mirchi among radio channels are distinct favourites in most geographical regions.
Netizens also share a buoyant optimism in their future and are investing in it for better security. Invest first, spend later seems to be their motto. About 60 per cent prefer to invest in riskier-but-higher return saving options like shares and mutual funds rather than in safer-but-lower return options like insurance or pension schemes, bonds or fixed deposits. While 33 per cent users prefer to invest in mutual funds, 26 per cent of them have an inclination for investing in shares.
The choice of loan also indicates the lifestyle leanings of the net population. They strive for a better living in more ways than just their buying choices. While 37 per cent may opt for a home loan, for 18 per cent an education loan holds more interest.
Netsumers are willing to invest in upgraded lifestyle products. They do not mind shelling out for better quality buys. In fact, two out of every three in the Net tribe is willing to pay mid or upward price for their desired product type and value added features.
Some one in every three Net user displays interest in buying a mid size or premium car which may carry a price tag of over Rs 4 lakh. Diamonds are best friends for 41 per cent of the Web shoppers and 30 per cent of them are loyal to gold jewellery. A mobile cum palmtop is the likely preference of 20 per cent users.
