India, over the past decade, has become a test bed for innovations in information and communication technologies. Various reasons explain this emergence. Some of the reasons clearly lie in some of our earlier posts. Her Excellency the President of India Pratibha Patil inaugurated the Rashtrapati Bhavan Helpline Portal at Rashtrapati Bhavan recently.
The common man has a need for internet for many such reasons. But with internet connectivity booming at an alarming rate there’s one sector which has been terribly affected especially in the metropolitan cities of India. That’s right we’re talking about the cybercafes which were once like amusement parlours for teenagers whereas a useful mode of communication for others who knew the use of internet. The most obvious is the search for a solution to what has long been an intractable problem: that rural India has remained poor while the rest of the country has moved ahead.
So much that today internet also saves the expense to travel and buy household commodities. The Online Retail Saga mentioned about how people avoid buying things online by which the companies have paid a hefty amount. The survey conducted online (October 2005) comprised of Internet users who frequented and accessed the Internet from Cybercafes in a primary or an allied capacity of which 47% shopped online. Respondent’s data was collected and analyzed by Cross Tab Marketing Services along with the IAMAI.
The survey solicited information on users who accessed the internet via Cybercafes, their profile, Internet Usage, products purchased online, their future propensity to buy and their level of satisfaction associated with online Shopping. The most obvious is the search for a solution to what has long been an intractable problem. It is that rural India has remained poor while the rest of the country has moved ahead. Hence cybercafe chains in India are more keen to target the demand for accessing internet in small towns and villages.
Pawan Dhir, the owner of a cybercafe in the township helped 45-year-old Madan Lal Maddi by searching for his house on the Net. This will probably tell you what we actually mean. Is this a new opportunity for cybercafe players to venture in small towns for more business? Well that remains to be seen as the key factor for a cybercafe is to sell multiple services to his existing user-base and not running after newer avenues without testing the battle-grounds.
