Digi-moms in India: Opportunity for brands?

A quick observation on my blogging or social networking circle and it always makes me think about the new generation, internet-savvy moms all around me.  The way these moms spend time updating about their babies in blogs, Facebook etc or the way they seek and discuss info about parenting on different websites, you definitely know that this section of consumer has definitely arrived on digital medium now. Yes, the presence maybe only in metros or selected cities, but nevertheless the population doesn’t seem to be worth ignoring for sure. And When I read a recent report about the arrival of digi-moms ( the term surely sounds nice 🙂 ) in India, I wasn’t surprised a bit on the statistics mentioned there. The survey dealt with the online behavior of over 3,000 mothers across eight countries in Asia including India, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea.

  • As per the study conducted by Microsoft Advertising and Starcom MediaVest, Mothers in India are becoming increasingly Internet-savvy, be it for shopping or keeping in touch with family.

  • 87 per cent of the mothers surveyed in India said that the Internet is now an important part of their lives.

  • As many as 50 per cent said they had made online purchases in the last one month.

  • While Indian mothers spend 56 per cent of their total time on the Internet either for work or study, 90 per cent of them use it to connect with family and friends. As many as 75 per cent defined going online as their “me-time activity”.

  • About 81 per cent of the mothers in the country prefer reading newspapers and magazines online, and books top their list of shopping items.

  • More than 90 per cent of the moms agreed that good brands or products were worth talking about, and over 72 per cent said that they can persuade friends and family to buy the same products.

Well, the figures are definitely encouraging and the terms like online being “me-time-activity” for most of these moms definitely seem to be so relatable (I’ve many friends who were working earlier but after motherhood they are either on partial sabbatical or have decided to be at home full time, these women actually think their online time to be a ‘me time’ when they can connect with their friends, colleagues , fellow bloggers etc.) but when you think of the brands reaching out to this section on digital medium, you wonder why kids or parenting related brands are not spending their money online? I have seen it in quite many cases where the discussion on some forum is all about motherhood or kids but then the corresponding advertisement on the page would be of some general insurance company or online share trading offering. Not that a woman won’t be interested in it, there may be some for sure but would have been better to see some kiddie brand or women oriented products using online medium to reach out this new generation of digital population.  I know acceptance of this medium is still a challenge in most of the industries and despite so much of evangelization there are hardly few Indian brands who have really explored this medium in the right way. But when the presence of your TG is just so obvious, why not try it out? As far as I’m concerned, with or without this survey report, I think I can see this segment increasing in internet world quite clearly 🙂