Why don't Indians buy software?
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We were going over our analytics the other day and a question came up: "Why don't Indians buy software?". We sell a small to medium sized business application online and we have regular sales in over 70 countries. In our web analytics we see India quite high on the list of countries where people download our software, very high, like fifth out of all countries, as well Indians regularly request a full trial license from us to fully test our software so we know they are engaged and interested. The mystery is that in over a decade in business we still have zero sales to India, not one single one. This despite thousands of downloads by Indians. The countries below India in downloads, even *way* below India still account for a large amount of sales. It's not piracy, we monitor that regularly. We've contacted the Indian people who requested a license as we do everyone and we always get an answer like "We thoroughly checked it out and decided to go with another package". Is there some kind of cultural thing we're not getting? Is it that they will always try to find a local equivalent if they can? Does anyone have a theory as to this mystifying behaviour?
There is no failure only feedback
Because they "evaluated" it for reasons of producing a competing product. Try emailing those devs from an "anonymous" email and ask them if they have a product similar to yours. That will tell you something.
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams "Let me get this straight. You know her. She knows you. But she wants to eat him. And everybody's okay with this?"
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We were going over our analytics the other day and a question came up: "Why don't Indians buy software?". We sell a small to medium sized business application online and we have regular sales in over 70 countries. In our web analytics we see India quite high on the list of countries where people download our software, very high, like fifth out of all countries, as well Indians regularly request a full trial license from us to fully test our software so we know they are engaged and interested. The mystery is that in over a decade in business we still have zero sales to India, not one single one. This despite thousands of downloads by Indians. The countries below India in downloads, even *way* below India still account for a large amount of sales. It's not piracy, we monitor that regularly. We've contacted the Indian people who requested a license as we do everyone and we always get an answer like "We thoroughly checked it out and decided to go with another package". Is there some kind of cultural thing we're not getting? Is it that they will always try to find a local equivalent if they can? Does anyone have a theory as to this mystifying behaviour?
There is no failure only feedback
My somewhat different perspective. Rahul says, "I bought XYZ software of ABC company for $55.99. Quite good application!" Manoj says, "You are stupid. You PAID for software!!? Come on man, everything is available for free on Internet." Rahul probably won't buy any software next time. Will tolerate nagging screen that says it is not genuine.
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The developers are usually located in India, whereas the purchase team is usually in the US or Canada (for a lot of Indian IT companies that do outsourced work). So while it's an Indian dev who evaluates the software, the sales order is always from the US or Canada. Not unusual at all. As to the guy who told you they went with another product, well I don't know about that.
Regards, Nish
Latest article: Code Project Posts Analyzer for Windows Phone 7 My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
Nishant Sivakumar wrote:
As to the guy who told you they went with another product, well I don't know about that.
As if you know the other 999,999,998 :)
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost
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Nishant Sivakumar wrote:
As to the guy who told you they went with another product, well I don't know about that.
As if you know the other 999,999,998 :)
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost
:laugh:
Regards, Nish
Latest article: Code Project Posts Analyzer for Windows Phone 7 My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
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We were going over our analytics the other day and a question came up: "Why don't Indians buy software?". We sell a small to medium sized business application online and we have regular sales in over 70 countries. In our web analytics we see India quite high on the list of countries where people download our software, very high, like fifth out of all countries, as well Indians regularly request a full trial license from us to fully test our software so we know they are engaged and interested. The mystery is that in over a decade in business we still have zero sales to India, not one single one. This despite thousands of downloads by Indians. The countries below India in downloads, even *way* below India still account for a large amount of sales. It's not piracy, we monitor that regularly. We've contacted the Indian people who requested a license as we do everyone and we always get an answer like "We thoroughly checked it out and decided to go with another package". Is there some kind of cultural thing we're not getting? Is it that they will always try to find a local equivalent if they can? Does anyone have a theory as to this mystifying behaviour?
There is no failure only feedback
There, now you too are disappointed there wasn't a punchline.
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Ah alright, I thought your product was aimed at developers. If it's a business product, it's no wonder your tool sells so poorly in India. Indian businesses are not run anything like they are in the US/Canada. Unless you've lived and worked there, and understand typical Indian business process flow, it would be unlikely that your product will be helpful to anyone in India. I am sure there are tons of local products that would do the job closer to what they want (even if they may not be as stable as your product).
Regards, Nish
Latest article: Code Project Posts Analyzer for Windows Phone 7 My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
Ok, I fully understand that but why do they continually download our product and request full trial license keys? Are they just getting an idea of what is possible and what features to look for but ultimately will buy local?
There is no failure only feedback
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There, now you too are disappointed there wasn't a punchline.
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Ok, I fully understand that but why do they continually download our product and request full trial license keys? Are they just getting an idea of what is possible and what features to look for but ultimately will buy local?
There is no failure only feedback
Your product is very likely more professional looking than any of the local products. So their first instinct is to somehow convince their managers to approve your product so they can use what seems to them a better product. But the higher ups usually look for actual usable functionality - which the local apps will do better than yours will. This is my best guess.
Regards, Nish
Latest article: Code Project Posts Analyzer for Windows Phone 7 My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
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We were going over our analytics the other day and a question came up: "Why don't Indians buy software?". We sell a small to medium sized business application online and we have regular sales in over 70 countries. In our web analytics we see India quite high on the list of countries where people download our software, very high, like fifth out of all countries, as well Indians regularly request a full trial license from us to fully test our software so we know they are engaged and interested. The mystery is that in over a decade in business we still have zero sales to India, not one single one. This despite thousands of downloads by Indians. The countries below India in downloads, even *way* below India still account for a large amount of sales. It's not piracy, we monitor that regularly. We've contacted the Indian people who requested a license as we do everyone and we always get an answer like "We thoroughly checked it out and decided to go with another package". Is there some kind of cultural thing we're not getting? Is it that they will always try to find a local equivalent if they can? Does anyone have a theory as to this mystifying behaviour?
There is no failure only feedback
They do (or at least that's our experience, albeit in a different sector - dev tools). For us by far the worst major country for sales is (no surprise) China. I'd be really surprised if piracy isn't a significant factor in that case though; I know our online merchant is really strict about credit card orders from that part of the world.
Anna :rose: Tech Blog | Visual Lint "Why would anyone prefer to wield a weapon that takes both hands at once, when they could use a lighter (and obviously superior) weapon that allows you to wield multiple ones at a time, and thus supports multi-paradigm carnage?"
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Your product is very likely more professional looking than any of the local products. So their first instinct is to somehow convince their managers to approve your product so they can use what seems to them a better product. But the higher ups usually look for actual usable functionality - which the local apps will do better than yours will. This is my best guess.
Regards, Nish
Latest article: Code Project Posts Analyzer for Windows Phone 7 My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
Oddly we sell really well all over the world, I'm not exaggerating when I say that, from Anguilla to Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso to Turkey, you name it, India just stands out as being it's own thing entirely and I'm still a bit confused as to why.
There is no failure only feedback
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Oddly we sell really well all over the world, I'm not exaggerating when I say that, from Anguilla to Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso to Turkey, you name it, India just stands out as being it's own thing entirely and I'm still a bit confused as to why.
There is no failure only feedback
India has 1000s of software shops (many of them run out of one room home offices). So there will be cheap alternatives for pretty much every piece of business software you can think of. Of course there may be significant compromises in quality/stability etc. but because they are so cheap, users get value for money.
Regards, Nish
Latest article: Code Project Posts Analyzer for Windows Phone 7 My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
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They do (or at least that's our experience, albeit in a different sector - dev tools). For us by far the worst major country for sales is (no surprise) China. I'd be really surprised if piracy isn't a significant factor in that case though; I know our online merchant is really strict about credit card orders from that part of the world.
Anna :rose: Tech Blog | Visual Lint "Why would anyone prefer to wield a weapon that takes both hands at once, when they could use a lighter (and obviously superior) weapon that allows you to wield multiple ones at a time, and thus supports multi-paradigm carnage?"
Yeah I thought JC was selling dev tools too, but apparently not. He sells business software! Never knew that all these years :-)
Regards, Nish
Latest article: Code Project Posts Analyzer for Windows Phone 7 My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
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Yeah I thought JC was selling dev tools too, but apparently not. He sells business software! Never knew that all these years :-)
Regards, Nish
Latest article: Code Project Posts Analyzer for Windows Phone 7 My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
Not that many devs are dumb enough to try selling dev tools - it's a tough market to crack. :doh:
Anna :rose: Tech Blog | Visual Lint "Why would anyone prefer to wield a weapon that takes both hands at once, when they could use a lighter (and obviously superior) weapon that allows you to wield multiple ones at a time, and thus supports multi-paradigm carnage?"
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We were going over our analytics the other day and a question came up: "Why don't Indians buy software?". We sell a small to medium sized business application online and we have regular sales in over 70 countries. In our web analytics we see India quite high on the list of countries where people download our software, very high, like fifth out of all countries, as well Indians regularly request a full trial license from us to fully test our software so we know they are engaged and interested. The mystery is that in over a decade in business we still have zero sales to India, not one single one. This despite thousands of downloads by Indians. The countries below India in downloads, even *way* below India still account for a large amount of sales. It's not piracy, we monitor that regularly. We've contacted the Indian people who requested a license as we do everyone and we always get an answer like "We thoroughly checked it out and decided to go with another package". Is there some kind of cultural thing we're not getting? Is it that they will always try to find a local equivalent if they can? Does anyone have a theory as to this mystifying behaviour?
There is no failure only feedback
Are there other countries with emerging economy among the other 70? This could give you some pattern, or at least will exclude the product’s price from the possible reasons.
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Not that many devs are dumb enough to try selling dev tools - it's a tough market to crack. :doh:
Anna :rose: Tech Blog | Visual Lint "Why would anyone prefer to wield a weapon that takes both hands at once, when they could use a lighter (and obviously superior) weapon that allows you to wield multiple ones at a time, and thus supports multi-paradigm carnage?"
:laugh:
Regards, Nish
Latest article: Code Project Posts Analyzer for Windows Phone 7 My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
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Oddly we sell really well all over the world, I'm not exaggerating when I say that, from Anguilla to Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso to Turkey, you name it, India just stands out as being it's own thing entirely and I'm still a bit confused as to why.
There is no failure only feedback
maybe you should look for blunders in the Indian localization then. :)
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Are there other countries with emerging economy among the other 70? This could give you some pattern, or at least will exclude the product’s price from the possible reasons.
There is only one Ashley Judd and Salma Hayek is her prophet! Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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India has 1000s of software shops (many of them run out of one room home offices). So there will be cheap alternatives for pretty much every piece of business software you can think of. Of course there may be significant compromises in quality/stability etc. but because they are so cheap, users get value for money.
Regards, Nish
Latest article: Code Project Posts Analyzer for Windows Phone 7 My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
Yeah I guess that explains it. It just seems weird to waste our time and their time when they know they aren't going to buy. Makes me want to just make our website go dark to India to save the hassle all around. I won't but it makes me want to. :) Thanks for the insights Nish.
There is no failure only feedback
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They do (or at least that's our experience, albeit in a different sector - dev tools). For us by far the worst major country for sales is (no surprise) China. I'd be really surprised if piracy isn't a significant factor in that case though; I know our online merchant is really strict about credit card orders from that part of the world.
Anna :rose: Tech Blog | Visual Lint "Why would anyone prefer to wield a weapon that takes both hands at once, when they could use a lighter (and obviously superior) weapon that allows you to wield multiple ones at a time, and thus supports multi-paradigm carnage?"
-
We were going over our analytics the other day and a question came up: "Why don't Indians buy software?". We sell a small to medium sized business application online and we have regular sales in over 70 countries. In our web analytics we see India quite high on the list of countries where people download our software, very high, like fifth out of all countries, as well Indians regularly request a full trial license from us to fully test our software so we know they are engaged and interested. The mystery is that in over a decade in business we still have zero sales to India, not one single one. This despite thousands of downloads by Indians. The countries below India in downloads, even *way* below India still account for a large amount of sales. It's not piracy, we monitor that regularly. We've contacted the Indian people who requested a license as we do everyone and we always get an answer like "We thoroughly checked it out and decided to go with another package". Is there some kind of cultural thing we're not getting? Is it that they will always try to find a local equivalent if they can? Does anyone have a theory as to this mystifying behaviour?
There is no failure only feedback