Education, age, income, economic scenario, media, and technology play a predominant role in the way Indians shop today. The Indian consumer buying behavior has changed.

The Indian consumer is more educated. And this educated large chunk of young India is buying differently. This has a direct impact on various aspects of shopping such as the choice of brands.

“The Indian retail industry is one of the world’s top five retail markets in terms of economic value. The industry is experiencing exponential growth. The retail development is taking place not just in major cities and metros, but also in smaller towns,” tells, Anand Ramanathan, associate director, management consulting, KPMG in India.

Consumer buying has improved with rapid urbanization and better lifestyle. This is increasing time-starved consumers exponentially. The segment that values convenience has grown exponentially.

• The buying behavior of BoP (bottom of the pyramid) consumers who have an average household income below Rs 1,00,000 a year has also changed. Thanks to the impact of government schemes.

• This segment, however, still remains largely untapped. However, the local influences determine the purchasing habits when it comes to the BoP segment in small cities.

The youth constitutes a considerable proportion of the online users. And the growth in consumer buying online is driving increased value consciousness and small city aspirations. It is primarily because of the growing importance of convenience.

• The retailers focus on consumer satisfaction, giving importance to key service parameters and loyalty. Which they drive by strengthening front-end operations.

• Though high-end segments such as apparel and consumer electronics dominate the online retail segment. The new segments have gained popularity. The growth of categories such as grocery retailing attribute to a mix of increasing comfort with trying new ‘non-traditional’ categories coupled with improved value.

The rurban market refers to locations apart from top-tier cities are vastly untapped. They are home to the majority of the Indian market. They consist of a large number of heterogeneous sub-groups which remains largely underserved and are characterized by increased brand consciousness.

• The rurban segment consumers have adopted newer channels of purchase to overcome inherent purchase barriers. Online players have also stepped in to fill the demand-supply gap created by the lack of physical stores in these cities.

Amid growing brand consciousness, companies also need to cater to strong ‘local’ tastes of ‘Rurban’ consumers, which will involve tweaking the product, marketing, and supply chain as well, according to the report.

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