At least on one front, homegrown Flipkart appears to be inching ahead in its fierce battle against American e-commerce major Amazon.
Indian shoppers trust Flipkart as a brand more than Amazon, according to a recent survey by e-commerce advisory firm Redseer Management Consulting, which polled 7,500 respondents across 30 cities between July and September 2017.
The survey rates the companies on three parameters – most trusted brand, best value and buying experience – to capture consumer perceptions (not business performance), Redseer noted.
In metro cities, Flipkart is only marginally ahead of Amazon in being the most trusted brand, but it takes a bigger lead in non-metros.
“A clear trend from our study indicates that Flipkart enjoys greater recall with new online shoppers, who are coming primarily from tier 2 towns and lower income groups,” Kanishka Mohan, senior consultant at Redseer, said. Flipkart, driven by word-of-mouth branding, has a greater resonance with customers, he added.
On its part, Amazon said it does not agree with the findings from Redseer’s survey. “We have noticed poorly informed speculative reports with irrelevant sample sizes whose numbers do not add up to what we are seeing in the industry,” an Amazon India spokesperson told Quartz. “We continue to be the fastest-growing e-commerce marketplace in India.”
Value and experience
Consumers trust Flipkart over Amazon despite the fact they have a better buying experience on the latter’s website, the survey showed. This includes ease of exploring and ordering products, delivery predictability, delivery experience, and post-delivery experience.
In terms of value for money, the two companies are on a par.
The survey also noted that different income groups have different preferences. Flipkart is more popular among those with annual incomes of less than Rs 2.5 lakh while consumers with incomes between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh prefer shopping on Amazon.
With the Indian e-commerce market estimated to grow over 1,200% to $200 billion by 2026, this tug of war is unlikely to end anytime soon.
This article first appeared on Quartz.
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