Consumers could save Rs 42 cr on gadgets via online shopping

Consumers saved about Rs.42 crore in the August 2012 by buying gadgets online as they are buying gadgets at a factory price, claimed a study on Gadget E-Commerce conducted by Sulekha.com.

Sulekha.com estimates that about Rs. 280 crore of electronic gadgets were sold online through the top 15 e-commerce portals in India in August 2012. Ths study said that, consumers saved 11-15% on e-commerce sites, when compared to buying at offline stores.

The cost saving is also due to the discounts offered by online portals. Online portals offer discounts of 50% to 60% on maximum retail price (MRP) while retailers offer only about 5% to 8% discount on MRP.

Findings of the 'Gadget E-commerce' study:

* Consumers save 15-20% on buying Smartphones online.

* Consumers look for bank-specific or product-specific coupon codes to save additional money on buying gadgets online.

* Consumers seek deep-discounted products/deals that are offered by e-commerce companies on various occasions.

* Consumers of certain popular banks like Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, etc. get preferential treatment from several e-commerce sites - to have them start shopping on their site.

"The study has been conducted using a range of automated techniques. Sulekha.com has validated the findings of this study by going through the gadget prices given by Junglee.com, a price comparison site. Sulekha.com has also validated the study by comparing the savings against MRP (Maximum Retail Price) and MOP (Minimum Operating Price) as mandated by different manufacturers," said a release.