India’s digital economy is transforming at a rapid pace and it is the amalgamation of digital content and commerce that is leading the charge.
A recent report by Zinnov, a management consultancy firm, highlighted several trends that have emerged as the driving force of the country’s digital economy.
What are they? Let’s dig in and find out.
The report titled ‘What’s Shaping India’s Digital Economy’ found that ‘discovery’ is replacing the concept of ‘search’. This comes as part of the paradigm shift in the shopping experience wherein users are mostly chance upon products while they are browsing on their feed or swiping through stories.
Zinnov’s report also found that 38% of product discovery related to mobile shopping happens without any prior influence from advertisements or other premeditations. What more?
Digital content which acquires the biggest share of the country’s smartphone users has grown significantly higher post the pandemic. Besides Youtube and Facebook which serve as the primary destinations for the consumption of content, other players such as Glache which delivers content on lock screens have also seen a huge uptick.
Glance currently has over 115 million DAUs aka Daily Active Users in India. It shows relevant content pieces to its users directly on the lock screen of a smartphone.
Here are a few of the important findings of the Zinnov study:
- India’s digital landscape is experiencing humongous paradigm shifts as screen times have been increasing. And now, brands are competing for higher engagement that could finally turn into purchases.
- consumers want the accessibility to shop directly via video and regional content and not leave the social media platform they are on. This is something that live-commerce could enable and thus the report dubbs it a core part of what brand marketing will look like in the near future.
Praveen Bhadada, Managing Partner at Zinnov, in a statement, said that it is high time for brands to come up with a new gameplan if they wish to capture audience interest in a crowded market and include elements such as community engagement, influencer marketing, interactive commerce, social commerce and more in their marketing.
Currently, both digital payments and e-commerce platforms are leveraging digital content in a bid to achieve higher rates of engagement with their consumers. And, to blur the lines between content and commerce, influencers and content creators are coming to the rescue of brands.
Bhadad also mentioned that going forward one can expect to observe some interesting collaborations amid players across the domains of commerce, payments, and content.
Thus, all in all, it is very well understood that content and commerce will be ‘two peas in a pod’ when it comes to pushing the Indian digital ecosystem into the future.
The number of internet and smartphone users is increasing readily. The constant improving accessibility of 4G connectivity is also resulting in high consumption of video content and app usage. These trends are painting a very promising picture of Digital India, and the government is also leaving no stone unturned to digitise the maximum processes in a bid to make India a truly digital country. The exploded adoption of UPI is a testimony to the fact and Zinnov’s recent findings certify the same.
We will keep you updated on all future developments. Until then, stay tuned.
