Job hunting takes precedence over spouse search; mobile becomes top searched e-com product: IAMAI

Indian netizens have shown a marked shift in preferences in their surfing habits with job hunting becoming more important than looking for a life partner and changes in the search trends for e-commerce firms, according to the latest Internet Economy Watch, a report published jointly by the industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and research agency IMRB.

The report reveals that while the number of resumes uploaded during February 2013 was almost same as the number of matrimonial profiles put on the net at a little over 1 million each, the growth in job hunting was much swifter in February 2014. As many as 2.25 million resumes were uploaded in the month against 1.94 million matrimonial profiles in the same period.

At the same time there was a marked shift in the top searched product category for e-commerce firms with fast growth for mobile handsets.

Online user visits to various websites to look for mobile phones went up from 5.41 million in February 2013 to 18.77 million in February 2014. This makes it the single-largest searched category, as per the report.

Last year in the same month, branded apparel and footwear were bigger standalone categories separately.

Another fast mover has been books which saw 6.46 million online user searches in February 2014 compared with 2.41 million user visits in February 2013.

There has been a multi-fold increase in the number of people visiting web portals and buying online with the monthly tracker indicating about 52.5 million people accessing various e-tailing sites.

The report also found a y-o-y growth of 176 per cent in online booking of railway tickets in February this year compared with the corresponding month last year. "Railway tickets booked online in February 2014 were 12.5 million compared with 4.5 million in February 2013. The online bookings of air tickets witnessed an increase from less than 1 million in February 2013 to 1.28 million in February 2014," it added.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)