The survey further revealed that for over 30 percent of the survey respondents, friends or peer-reference influenced their online shopping; 17 percent were influenced by social media sites that included ads, product reviews, recommendations, product launch announcements, etc., and over 40 percent of the respondents indicated that they purchased one or more items after seeing it on a social networking site and many of these purchases were routed through ads on these sites.

“For improved results and generating increased revenues online, companies need to find means to integrate online portals with social media,” says Vidya Nath, Research Director, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan. “They will also have to watch customer behavior closely to chart their marketing strategies for the still evolving online shopping medium in India.”

“While the benefits of social media in terms of investment and returns appear visibly higher than incumbent methods of marketing and advertising, these cannot be taken for granted”, says Nath. “What works for one company, may not work for the other, hence social media marketing has to be carefully and strategically implemented to see tangible results.”

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