Google Partners with Retailers to Give India a Cyber Shopping Day

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Jon Russell

Jon Russell was Asia Editor for The Next Web from 2011 to 2014. Originally from the UK, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand. You can find him on T (show all) Jon Russell was Asia Editor for The Next Web from 2011 to 2014. Originally from the UK, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand. You can find him on Twitter, Angel List, LinkedIn.

It may be one of the Web’s most under-represented countries, but India is set to get its own version of ‘Cyber Monday’ with none other than search giant Google announcing a 24-hour shopping bonanza that is scheduled for 12/12/12 (a Wednesday, by the way).

We’ve already seen China’s 11 November festival reap in the cash — with Alibaba alone making a record $3.1b in sales — and US retailers recently enjoyed successful Black Friday and Cyber Monday events, but expectations will be a little different in India, where this is happening for the first time. Despite a population in excess of 1.2 billion, the country has just 137 million Internet users – that’s barely 10 percent.

Yet, with companies like Flipkart emerging and global giants like Amazon launching services, it is clear that India has the potential to be a hugely lucrative market. With that in mind, Google has partnered with more than 50 retailers — including Flipkart, Snapdeal and 99 labels — for the ‘Great Online Shopping Festival’.

Google is promising to make ‘dreams come true’. While we’re sure that Indian Internet users feel left out of shopping deals in the US and China, the event is likely to help accelerate the country’s online retail industry, which is good for Web companies too.

Here’s Google promotional video with more details: