The Indian Shopping Search Engines

Posted by Cindy Guerra on February 11th, 2020

Indian e-commerce market is constantly evolving and growing exponentially. It has not reached the saturation point of western e-commerce sectors yet, hence the market has a long way to go when it comes to e-shopping. There are plenty of options to buy products online but very few resources to search and compare. The go to option is Google but it is not helpful to find the best website, deals or prices. This gap has created a huge opportunity for many startups to come up with shopping search engines. This is a booming area for small and big companies to enter and specialize. Plenty of these websites function as a price comparing platform rather than a search engine. The Indian market is in grave need of smarter platforms for product search and to find new websites. 

The market dictates that 175 million people will shop online in India by 2020. Since 100% FDI is allowed in the B2B e-commerce sector, the Indian e-commerce entity can grow to a whopping Billion by 2021 according to IBEF(Indian Brand Equity Foundation). The projected number of internet users in India will be 829 million by 2021. It is not just the metropolitans, the tier 2 and tier 3 cities are becoming top consumers of the e-commerce industry. Internet penetration in rural India is expected to grow as high as 45% by 2021 compared to the current rate of 32%. Quantifying the retail logistics market in India, it was estimated at .35 billion and is expected to grow 36% CAGR over the next three years.

These statistics prove that there is a lot of potential for the industry to grow and increase in value. Here are the up and coming shopping search engines for India’s netizens in no particular order:

Google Shopping:

Google Shopping is allowing the users to go through offers, review prices from multiple sellers and find the products they are searching for. Customers can see the trending products across different categories, various deals, and compare prices using the advanced features. For retailers, the company is offering its 'Merchant Center' in Hindi, which will enable the sellers to list their products for Google Shopping, without paying for ad campaigns. The mogul of search engines is still struggling to find its feet in the Indian market. Their comparison site is still adapting to the needs of Indian Shoppers. 

Taglr:

Taglr’s tagline states that it is India’s  Shopping Search Engine. It has a unique structure with more than 180+ websites and 8 million+ products. In the past 2-3 years, the website has managed to keep its bounce rate very low. With almost 5 million monthly visits, Taglr has a lot to offer for its B2C and B2B clients. Taglr showcases all the major categories like Electronics, Fashion, Home and Wellness. The company has recently launched ShopperAds, which is an ad platform for brands and retailers to promote their offers, products and services with ad banners. These ads help the brands leverage on Taglr’s traffic to generate more business and create brand awareness. Taglr’s social media presence is really strong with a great engagement rate.

PriceDekho:

The website has a huge repertoire. It showcases product listings along with some advance features like price notifications that can be emailed to you, if you have shown interest in a product and it is available at a lower price. Pricedekho has also joined the nation’s coupon mania. There are payment options to use coupons and get additional discounts. The average visit duration is a little over a minute, with a bounce rate of more than 62%.

MySmartPrice:

This website's main focus initially was on gadgets and small electronic products. But, now it has evolved to a more sophisticated platform with new sections for clothing and books across all the top e-commerce stores. Plus, it now offers coupons as well. The shoppers on average are spending almost 2 minutes on this website which proves that their engagement is really effective.

Shoppingwish/Scandid:

Shoppingwish, which is also known as Scandid, is one of the newest in the bunch. After early growth, the startup site now has three million products listed from over 120 e-tailers. The website might include fashion, baby products, and home furnishings. Shoppingwish will also launch personalization of shopping search results based on a user’s social media cues. Even though the website has millions of visitors, the average duration shoppers are spending is around 30 seconds.

Pricecheck India:

Pricecheck is known for being a specialist in price comparison. The shoppers are getting smarter, they want to check multiple websites before buying any product. Pricecheck India attracts a very specific set of audience who want to compare prices to get the best deals. It is not exactly a shopping search engine but categorically, it is under the same umbrella.

PriceBaba:

The website is for the metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Pune and Delhi. PriceBaba comes in as a way to find good prices among offline retailers for mobile phones. Pricebaba is a great example of how vast the market is and there is so much to explore. Even if the platform has something small and specific to offer, there will be dedicated users. PriceBaba has a very low bounce rate and the average visit span is almost 2 mins.

Parting Thoughts:

The Indian market has presented itself as a great prospect for e-commerce innovations. There are a handful of search engines and most of them are not providing enough solutions for B2B and B2C needs. This provides an opportunity for platforms like Taglr to step up and dominate the market. One of the common concerns across all these websites is the user experience. Google Shopping and Taglr have been the only ones to provide a smooth interface and easy access.