50% car buyers research online before purchase: Google study

The survey showed that over 50 per cent changed their choice of car brand after uncovering new information on the web

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | June 6, 2012

With over 120 million users, the Internet is playing a major role in influencing the decision making of India's growing number of car buyers. An offline study conducted by Nielsen on behalf of Google India at car showrooms in top 8 metros showed that one in two car buyers had conducted research online before arriving at the dealership. The survey also showed that of those who had researched their purchase online, over 50 per cent changed their choice of car brands after uncovering new information on the web.

Respondents reported that they used the web to research and compare prices, watch online videos and find images, do competitive analysis, find dealer contacts and read both expert and user reviews. Most car buyers also rated OEM websites as the most important and trustworthy source of information. Of the 50 per cent respondents who went online, 42 per cent said they used search engine as the first source of information, just behind the opinions of friends and relatives (47 per cent).

On average, car buyers spend 9-12 weeks researching before arriving at their final decision, and of those who turned to the web for assistance, over 90 per cent used a search engine to learn more about the cars they were interested in buying.

Buyers rated the Internet as more important than TV or print media for auto related content. Over 56 per cent car buyers also choose to watch videos online as part of their research, with over 48 per cent rating YouTube as the destination and an important source of information on the Internet.

Rajan Anandan, VP & Managing Director of Google India, said, “This offline study substantiates the growing number of auto-related searches we've seen on Google search in India. Auto is among the fastest growing vertical in terms of query volumes on Google. Most OEMs have not yet tapped the full potential of the digital medium and we hope this study will help them to understand and engage the Indian consumer online.”

The findings are consistent with query trends on Google web search. Auto is among the fastest growing verticals on Google, with query volume growth of over 70 per cent year-on-year. In addition, in 2011 mobile queries grew 125 per cent y-o-y; from smartphones, the query volumes were almost double at 242 per cent.

In terms of query volume growth, SUVs were the fastest growing car segment (83 per cent y-o-y), followed by premium cars (82 per cent), sedans (75 per cent), luxury cars (74 per cent) and hatchback cars (53 per cent).

Based on the search query volumes, the study also looked at the top 10 most searched cars based query volumes on Google search in India in 2011. The top10 most searched new car launches were:

?     Hyundai Eon

?     Mahindra XUV 500

?     Honda Brio

?     Tata Manza

?     Maruti Kizashi

?     Toyota Liva

?     Hyundai Verna

?     Nissan Sunny

?     Skoda Rapid

?     Ford Fiesta

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com