The Internet web is expanding in India not only vertically, across business and industry, but also horizontally throughout the populace. The country has one of the fastest growing internet user groups in the world. By the end of 2014, there were around 302 million internet users, of which 63% were from urban areas and 27% from rural areas. According to a report by Internet and Mobile Users of India (IAMAI), more than 9 million internet users are added to the burgeoning group every month. 52 million internet users were added only in first six months of 2015. The exponential growth of internet users is the primary driver to aggrandizement online businesses in the country. Classified searches in the country contribute to 6% of global search queries with about 13 billion monthly searches.
As the market is turning aggressive, business enterprises and individual players are coming up in multitudes to tap its growing opportunities. The demand of products and services too are increasing along with purchasing power of Indian populace. Additionally, businesses are expanding in every domain bringing in many new products and services. Catering to the growing demands of Indian customers, online portals are expanding to meet generic and specific needs of customers. Classified sites, on the other hand, is offering the avenue to businesses to showcase themselves in the internet sphere.
Classified sites are growing with more diversified services and businesses. Service ranges of these sites are expanding in various industry verticals related to generic needs of end customers. Apart from product-based business, service providers are growing in the classified domain. Education, Housekeeping, Restaurant, Hotels and other such common services are moving into the online market through these sites apart from their own commercial websites. Classified sites too are offering customized solutions to such business that requires personalized space to provide the most amicable amenities.
Offering organized information is the best feature of classified sites that adds to business value in the market. Online buyers hop on to these sites in search of services specific to their queries. Therefore, they seek detailed information that are reliable and authentic. Classified sites assist customers to find comprehensive sets of structured information all in one place by organizing massive data. This in return helps customers to find their specific needs and services. Local listing is another advantage offered by classified sites that are boosting businesses significantly. Local searches in the country range to about 3.25 Billion monthly, comprising of 25% of total searches. Classified sites offer completely separate directories to local business that helps both vendors and customers. Surveys have suggested that about 75% of total traffic in online-classified sites seek local business and products. Local listings offer loads of vantages to business such as agility in business, offers fast tracking of products and fast brand building.
A good advantage offered by classified sites is they offer services and products moving with perfect tandem with the trend. Currently, as Skill Development is emerging as a mainstream trait across the country, many institutes and enterprises offering skill development trainings are added to directories of classified sites. This has offered an amicable avenue for youths to access training and skill development programs. Enterprises and training institutes on classified sites will assist rural students to gain a better edge as internet forms the primary mode of information exchange connecting them with service providers. The IAMAI report suggested that a healthy growth in internet users has been driven by rural Indians. This massive portion of Indian population are now increasingly accessing internet through mobile devices as well as via computers. Growth rate of rural internet users is much higher than that of growth rate of urban users. In October 2014, internet users in rural areas were growing at the rate of 39% while the figure in urban areas was only 29%. However, it should be noted that urban India is already on the way to reach internet saturation. With such statistics in hand, it is certain that online-classified websites will be imperative to assist rural youth to access skill development training in urban locales. Hence, these sites will play a substantial role to make Skill India Mission a success.
Classified service providers are offering a huge impetus in boosting business also through customer support. These websites offer intensive customer services to end consumers. Hence, for any information about a service or a business, consumers now no longer need to seek into multiple sites. Providing massive customer support, these sites are emerging as the one stop solution to every information query by consumers.
The Indian online-classified industry will grow to INR 31 Billion by 2016. Many new verticals, such as Skill Development, Automobiles, Real estate and other generic services are increasing at a fastidious pace. However, the gap between demand and supply is still huge in the market. This will require classified service providers to grow both horizontally substantiating more products and vertically throughout more industries. The prospect of startup enterprises is massive in the sector owning to its growing demand.
(Author Rupesh Kumar is Country Manager TheGoodDeal.in)
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