Data: A look at Bharat Consumers - All you need to know about the Neo-Indian Consumer

In association with GroupM, ShareChat has released a report on Bharat, that is the Indic language internet users, and how these Neo-Indian consumers are as digital-savvy as their India counterparts, who prefer using English. The data gives an insight into the key demographics of the digital-first users.

With the evolving consumer behavior and deeper internet penetration, advertisers and marketers need to look beyond the metro cities. The Indic language internet users of Bharat have emerged as a catalyst to new business growth. Sharing an inside view of this audience and sharing an intricate understanding of this segment, ShareChat recently released ‘Bharat – The Neo India’ report for 2022, in collaboration with GroupM.

To simplify the emerging audience, the report classifies Bharat, who prefer using Indic language across social media platforms as compared to India, who prefer using English. With almost 50% of Active Urban internet users that comprise 167 Mn out of 341 Mn consumers as per Kantar I-CUBE data, this set of new consumers presents as a massive untapped opportunity for marketers in the digital era.

Bharat Users: Affluent & Digitally Savvy Consumers

‘Bharat - The Neo India’ Report highlights that about 33% of urban active Indic internet users are from NCCS A (New Consumer Classification System) as compared to 30% of overall urban active internet users. They are also over-indexed on education in comparison to the overall urban active internet users with 39% of the Indic internet users as graduates/postgraduates.

Further, Bharat seems to be quite digital savvy as 56% of them prefer UPI as the most favored mode of payment for online shopping. In fact, the report cites that Bharat has a lead over India in terms of net banking and credit cards usage. Bharat is also embracing new modes of payment across digital channels for financial transactions in key categories like travel, gadgets, online content consumption, food purchases, amongst others.

These factors clearly showcase the propensity of Bharat to explore digital avenues for multiple purposes ranging from consuming online streaming services to indulging in retail therapy through online purchases.

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Bharat x Social Media: A Perfect Match 

Bharat engages on social media in a significant manner by sharing and creating more content than India. The report highlights that about 29% of Bharat shares content on social media, once a day, as compared to 22% of India.

Apart from the notable engagement, 39% of Bharat also utilizes social media as a primary source of news consumption, and prefer it more than both, print and TV, combined. Not only this, for Bharat, social media plays a key role/acts as an influencer as they make their purchase decisions. Thus, Bharat and social media seem to be a perfect match across major areas in their lives.

How to Capture the Heart of Bharat?

After citing some of the key factors that can help marketers decode Bharat in the digital day and age, the report shares various ways through which advertisers can win the hearts of this growing segment of the audience:

• Aim to establish a connect with Bharat – This can be achieved by being consistent in communication, speaking their language, and respecting the cultural nuances of Bharat.
• Ensure choosing the right platform with the appropriate marketing tactics – This can be done by choosing relevant influencers for engaging content, sharing relevant content formats like short, snackable videos, voice-based ads, amongst others.
• Leveraging commerce ads – This can be utilized by targeting active leads/prospects by capping language search terms in search marketing and creating Indic commerce ads with product USPs in line with various regions.
• Content to Commerce Interventions on regional social platforms – Another crucial way to tap Bharat is through content to commerce interventions on regional social platforms to nudge the consumers for impulse purchases and help drive trials and transactions for the brands
• Measure what matters - by choosing the right KPIs such as Brand awareness - through reach, click-through-rate, and view-through-rates; Engagement - through likes, shares, comments, positive word of mouth; and Conversion - through Click to visits, app installs, and more.

Overall, Bharat – The Neo India report attempts to decode Bharat and shares relevant insights that can help advertisers and marketers create niche and engaging communication.

To know more, you can download the complete report here:

*Note: The Indic language internet users are referred to as Bharat