Digital measurement specialist comScore says neary 60 per cent of India’s internet users visited a retail site in November and the number shopping online rose 18 per cent year on year.

The comScore report also found that coupon sites are rapidly gaining in popularity, with 16.5 per cent of the Indian online population visiting the category in November. The most popular were Snapdeal.com and Mydala.com.

“The online channel is playing an increasingly important role in connecting retailers with potential customers in India,” said Kedar Gavane, comScore director for India.

“To take advantage of this growing opportunity, retailers must ensure they are addressing the needs of potential customers, which include attractive pricing and the convenience of ordering online. The rapid growth of online coupon sites suggests that consumers in India are looking for deals, highlighting the need for online retailers to adopt effective marketing and pricing strategies for their goods.”

In November 2011, 27.2 million online users in India age 15 and older accessed the retail category from a home or work computer, as consumers continued to turn to the web to shop for and purchase items and retailers continue to increase their online visibility through active marketing campaigns.

Analysis of some of the largest retail subcategories revealed that coupons was the largest with 7.6 million visitors, an increase of 629 per cent from the previous year ,as consumers rapidly adopt daily deal sites.

Consumer Electronics ranked next with 7.1 million visitors growing 12 per cent from the previous year, while 5.8 million online users visited comparison shopping sites, an increase of 25 per cent from the previous year.

Visits to apparel retailing sites rose 166 per cent to 4.6 million.

Amazon Sites were Indian online shoppers’ favourite destination, recording 6.8 million visitors, or 14.7 per cent of the online population.

Apple.com worldwide sites drew 3.4 million visitors, followed by Samsung Group with nearly 2.8 million. Other top retail destinations included Flipkart.com (2.7 million), HomeShop18.com (2.3 million) and Naaptol.com (2.1 million).

In November, 7.6 million Indians visited coupon sites, representing 16.5 per cent of Internet users in the market. Snapdeal.com led the category with 5.2 million visitors, followed by Mydala.com with 1.4 million visitors and Crazeal.com with nearly 1 million visitors.