BWI: PayPal Survey Reveals Indians are Expected to Spend More this Diwali than they did Last Year

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: PayPal
Thursday, October 08, 2009 01:14 PM IST (07:44 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Banking & financial services, Business services, Information technology; Technology
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PayPal Survey Reveals Indians are Expected to Spend More this Diwali than they did Last Year
Indians Refuse to Let the Weakened Economy Dampen their Festive Spirits

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Thursday, October 08, 2009 -- (Business Wire India) -- Despite the weakened economy, Indians are entering into the festive spirit with 45 percent expected to spend more during the upcoming holiday season than they did last year. According to a PayPal survey released today, the average Diwali spend amongst Indians this year is $213 with household items, health and beauty, entertainment and vouchers or gift cards topping the Diwali gift list.

Whilst two of out five Singaporeans respondents would rather not have to shop for holiday gifts and items at all, 70 percent of Indians are keen to keep the holiday spirit alive without fail.

Indians are savvy online shoppers

Out of the four countries surveyed across South East Asia, Indians also appear to be the savviest at online shopping with three quarters intending to shop online during the upcoming festive period, citing time (75 percent), crowds (65 percent) and access to a wider range of products (60 percent) as the main reasons for avoiding the shops.

Online merchants take note!

Despite favouring their home grown talent, with 69 percent of online shoppers in India perceiving local merchants to be at least on par if not better as overseas merchants, they still view lower prices, free shipping and greater choice as areas where online merchants are much stronger. Indian online shoppers are looking for product quality guarantees, evidence of good website payment security and competitive prices when it comes to their online shopping experience.

"Many online merchants will be gearing up for the festive period and encouragingly it looks like spending is due to rise in India," said Mario Shiliashki, General Manager of PayPal Southeast Asia and India. "In today's e-commerce climate, consumers expect their online shopping experiences to be better than those found in the offline world, with access to a wider range of products and more competitive prices, whilst at the same time guaranteeing their security and convenience. PayPal understands the needs of both merchants and buyers globally and, as a result, connects the two securely, conveniently and quickly."

To allow Asian merchants to connect with international online buyers and drive cross border trade, PayPal also recently launched an online Asia Mall at http://www.paypal-apac.com/apac-mall. Major Asian online retailers offer a range of promotional offers to PayPal customers on this online mall, from 20 percent discounts to free warranties and free shipping.

About PayPal

PayPal is the faster, safer way to pay and get paid online. The service allows members to send and receive payments without disclosing financial information, with the flexibility to pay or get paid using a variety of secure payment options, including account balances, bank accounts (in approved countries), credit cards or promotional financing. With more than 75 million active accounts in 190 markets and 19 currencies around the world, PayPal enables global ecommerce.

In the U.S., PayPal is the most preferred payment service on the Web after Visa. In the UK and Australia, PayPal is the most preferred payment service on the Web.

PayPal's Total Payment Volume, the total value of transactions in 2008 represented nearly 9 percent of global e-commerce.

PayPal is headquartered in San Jose, California. Its international headquarters (PayPal Pte. Ltd.) is located in Singapore.

PayPal is an eBay company. More information about the company can be found at www.paypal.com.

Consumer advisory - PayPal Pte. Ltd., the holder of PayPal's stored value facility, does not require the approval of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Users are advised to read the terms and conditions available at www.paypal.com carefully before use.

About the survey

The PayPal survey was conducted by BlackBox from 17 to 30 August. There were 300 respondents per country in India, Singapore and Malaysia and 303 in Thailand. Respondents were made up of online and non-online shoppers.


CONTACT DETAILS
Manas Bhardwaj, Vox Public Relations, +91 9899875734, manasb@voxpr.co.in
Ekta Babbar, Vox Public Relations, +91 9891164547, Ektab@voxpr.co.in

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, MARKETING, BANKING, BUSINESS SERVICES, IT, TECHNOLOGY

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