Internet is the way forward. Be it shopping, paying bills, checking score updates or gifting flowers to someone you love, internet has a solution for everything. Just type in your query in any search engine and whooooaaa, there you go, left with so many alternatives to choose from. Perhaps the growing demand for online services is the result of the busy schedules of people who do not have time to go out for shopping or pay their bills.
Let’s look at the automobile industry. If you want to buy a car or a bike, will the features provided online help you make the buying decision or would you like to go personally and then decide? Well, recently, a study was conducted by Nielson on behalf of Google India to see how internet is influencing the buying decisions of car buyers in India. The study revealed that among those who researched online, 50% changed their choice of car merely on the information provided on the web.
The study also revealed that buyers rated internet more important than TV or the print media. Over 56% car buyers also choose to watch videos online as part of their research, with over 48% rating YouTube as the destination and a important source of information on the Internet.
As a part of the study, one of the key findings was that, in terms of query volume growth: SUVs was the fastest growing car segment growing at (83% yoy), followed by premium cars (82%), sedans (75%), luxury cars (74%) and hatchback cars were growing at (53% yoy). Also Hyundai Eon, Mahindra XUV 500 and Honda Brio were the top three most searched new car launches in 2011. Looks like the day is not far when buyers might just prefer to book a car online based on reviews and feedback given by top auto reviewers.
