Indians have well defined brand preferences: Survey

Mumbai, Sep 13 (PTI) Indian consumers have welldefined expectations and preferences when it comes to choosingbrands, considering fashionable attributes equally importantto reliability and ethical sourcing, according to a survey. This is "an uncommon ratio" when compared to thepreferences of consumers in other countries, said the HSBC’s’Future of Consumer Demand’ report. India also stood second after Poland on the list ofcountries whose consumers care mostly about being able to trynew products and services, it said. India had the highest levels of trust in both nationaland multinational business leaders, with around half of therespondents stating they trust both at least a little comparedto their emerging market counterparts. On the digital economy side of things, India stillsuffers from lower than average Internet penetration rate.However, this is changing rapidly, the report noted. As per the report, around a fifth of India-basedrespondents had bought goods or services online. The activity Indians were most likely to do online wasbanking (73 per cent), while the activity least likely wasbuying groceries (45 per cent). Further, 17 per cent had made a purchase via a mobiledevice in the past month. The report said almost 9 in 10 Indians consideredleisure important as a consumer, but this was surpassed by thenearly ubiquitous importance of work at 96 per cent. Further, three quarters Indians are happy with theirjobs – among the highest job satisfaction in the survey. "Though not as happy or satisfied as Mexico, India’slife satisfaction scores are very high indicating anoptimistic outlook with regards to life," the report said. In addition, Indian consumers were also big holidaytakers, averaging 3.35 short breaks and 2.35 long holidays peryear. PTI DSK RSY ABIBAS