Internet plays a critical role in the life of Asian Americans, including Indian Americans, with 90 per cent going online and 70 per cent visiting ethnic websites every day, a new survey finds.

More than half of respondents said they shop online, which is doubled as compared with the last year and web surfing move up from 8th ranking in 2005 to 5th last year.

Asian Indians and Chinese spend the most hours on the Internet and young Asian Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 are the largest Internet users.

The average online shopping expenditure in the last 12 months is 138 dollars. The average online spending amongst the Vietnamese segment increased dramatically from an average of 180 dollars in 2005 to 230 dollars in 2006. The top products purchased online amongst Asian Americans remains apparel and books.

The third annual Consumer Research Study was conducted by interTrend's Knowledge Center reveals relevant findings and insightful views into brand loyalty, lifestyle habits, purchase drivers.

The study also examines media consumption amongst Asian Americans and revealed that eighty percent of the respondents read ethnic newspapers, followed by TV and radio.

The study also revealed that Asians prefer to be reached and targeted through in-language advertising. Only seventeen percent of the respondents prefer English only advertising with the majority preferring either in-language or bi-lingual advertisements.

According to the study, Asian Americans shop frequently at department stores with nearly one third frequenting department stores at least 1 to 3 times a week.

The findings also show that Japanese auto brands are a top choice among the respondents with Toyota and Honda having the highest ownership. Among the sub-segments, Asian Indians and Koreans have the highest purchase intention among all other groups.

The study found that Asian Americans have the highest product ownership rate for auto insurance followed by health insurance and life insurance. Price and reputation are the top criteria for selecting an insurance company.

The study also gauges purchase factors when choosing a wireless phone service provider. The findings illustrate that the quality of local and national coverage were the top criteria in their purchase decision. Other top features stated by respondents included text messaging/SMS capability.

"Marketers are increasingly committed to capitalizing on the Asian American consumer market opportunity," explains Tanya Raukko, Director of Strategic Planning at interTrend Communications.

"There is definitely a hunger to understand this segment's distinct preferences and our goal for the study was to be able to offer marketers relevant data, insights and valid entry points to help them build their business case."

"Asian American consumers continue to grow and evolve as a significant market segment. The interTrend Knowledge Center was created to better understand and track changes in Asian American consumption behaviour so that marketers can establish more effective relationships with Asian American an consumers," Julia Huang, President and CEO of interTrend Communications said.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com

While the users of plastic money in India are being ripped of extra charges amounting to over Rs 1.6 crore a day, those in the US feel credit cards have a positive impact on their lives.

A new survey says that 72 per cent Americans are satisfied with the services offered by the card issuers and 73 per cent feel their credit card company treats them fairly.

But the scenario in India is quite different. The banks have been extracting around Rs 6,000 crore in the name of late fee, cash advance fee, billed finance fee, over-limit fee, cash withdrawal fee, cheque pick up fee and service taxes on all these fees!

While Indian feel credit card is a very useful instrument as a means of payment, it must be used sparingly and for as short a time as possible.

Americans, however, do not feel so. Of course, for all the right reasons.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com

Microsoft Corp said on Monday Dell Inc had joined a business collaboration it had with Novell Inc to allow open-source Linux software to work with Windows.

The move makes Dell the first major systems provider to join the Microsoft-Novell collaboration, which consists of a broad set of business and technological agreements to make their products work together better to serve corporate customers using both Linux and Windows computer servers.

Under the latest agreement, Dell will purchase Suse Linux Enterprise Server certificates, Microsoft said. Suse Linux is Novell's operating system.

Dell will also establish a services and marketing program to migrate existing Linux users who are not Dell Linux customers to Suse Linux, Microsoft said.

Linux is the most popular variant of open-source software. Unlike proprietary software, open-source software lets developers share code and add functions, and users only pay for custom features, maintenance and technical support.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com