JD Power Car Study: Price most Important Internet use grows

JD power has showcased its 2009 India Escaped Shopper Study based on responses from more than 5,400 buyers and nearly 2,000 rejecters of new cars and utility vehicles who purchased their vehicles between September 2008 and April 2009. The study was fielded from March to June 2009. The key highlights of the study were:

1. Nearly one-third of shoppers reject a model because the price was too high. Exterior styling is the next most frequently cited reason for rejection.
2. 34 per cent of new vehicle shoppers in India used internet to find information about makes and models in 2009, as against 21 per cent in 2007.
3. The percentage of shoppers who seek information from friends and relatives during the vehicle selection process has increased from 70 per cent in 2007 to 74 per cent in 2009.
4. The percentage of shoppers who indicate that they knew the exact model they wanted to purchase when they first began to shop for a vehicle has increased from 71 per cent in 2008 to 74 per cent in 2009.
5. Among prospective buyers who visited a dealership, 80 per cent actually purchased a vehicle in 2009, as against 77 per cent in 2008.

The key highlight is the number of people using internet for researching about cars which seems to be why carwale is doing so well .The challenge for all internet companies in India however is to convince users about using internet as the channel for actual buying and growing people from just doing research on the net though in this case of cars you can also use the model of lead generation which carwale has adopted.