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Google’s Ramadan Indonesia 2016 Insights & Recommendations reveal unique Internet use pattern during the Islamic holy month

The holy Islamic month of Ramadan largely impacts the daily lives of Indonesians, being the biggest Muslim population in the world. The change also impact how they are using the Internet, according to Google’s Ramadan Indonesia 2016 Insights & Recommendations which has been revealed today.

“One important point that we need to know is that the interest in Ramadan begins long before the holy month itself, and surges one week before Idul Fitri itself,” said Henky Prihatna, Country Industry Head of Google Indonesia.

During the media event, he presented a graphic that revealed how Ramadan-related searches increase rapidly from from one week before Ramadan to the first week of Ramadan. The number then steadily falls until it peaks again on the week of Idul Fitri.

“The decrease has something to do with the lessening euphoria of welcoming the Holy Month. Then it peaks again because people are receiving their Idul Fitri bonus, and go back online for last minute online shopping,” Prihatna explains.

In terms of daily changes, Google searches tend to peak during lunchtime (since people are fasting and not having lunch) and also in the early morning, where people would wake up to have their sahoor meal around 2 to 4AM.

The insights were gathered from Google’s internal data and though the percentage varies between each year, Prihatna stated that the trends and the behaviour tend to stay the same.

e27 compiled key points from the insight for your reading convenience.

Also Read: Malaysia, IDB to join forces to found the world’s first Islamic Venture Capital

When it comes to content, there are basically four main things that Indonesians are searching for online:

1. Religious-themed contents such as fasting schedule (increases three times), prayers (increases seven times), things that may corrupt your fasting ritual (nine times), or ‘mini sermons’ (a pre-recorded religious sermon that lasted up to seven minutes, eight times).

“Basically, everyone wants to be a better person, thus the increase in these contents,” explained Prihatna.

2. Health and beauty related contents such as hijab tutorial (increases twice), how to prevent dry skin (twice), the benefits of fasting (twice), or fasting for expecting mothers (increases two and a half times).

“The only time when the number of health-related searches match the one for Ramadan is in January. Because everyone is doing their New Year’s resolutions,” Prihatna said.

3. Mealtime plays an important role in family lives during Ramadan, thus increases of searches in several types of recipes, such as “Idul Fitri menu” (increases four times) or cookies (three times) for Idul Fitri gifts.

4. The travel industry is also greatly affected with increases in searches for fight and train ticket, hotel booking, and information on local tourism spots.

Ramadan is also a ‘harvest season’ for e-commerce companies as people tend to shop more before they leave home for the holiday. The top performing goods are apparel (29 per cent), travel (30 per cent), smartphone (17 per cent), telco services such as data plan (19 per cent) and consumer electronics (24 per cent).

It is also important to note that 81 per cent of Ramadan-related searches come from mobile devices.

Not only that people are shopping from their mobile devices, but they also enjoy entertainment on mobile with 13 per cent increase of mobile video watch during Ramadan.

Also Read: Salaam, fintech: Organisation to bring together Islamic crowdfunding launched in KL

What can businesses do to embrace this opportunity?

There are three main concepts that Prihatna offers:

Be there

There is no question that businesses nowadays must include the mobile sector as a channel to reach out to customers. But what is more important is understanding customers’ key ‘micro-moments’ (i.e the contents that they would share or enjoy on digital platforms) and set up a strategy based on it.

Be useful

Engage customers with inspiring, educative and entertaining contents that fits their interests, and enable them to make purchases across different channels or devices.

Be relevant

Not only that you should be available on mobile, but you should also offer great mobile experience. Speed and convenience are the keys to a great mobile experience.

“This concept does not apply only during Ramadan, but also in general time,” he closed.

This year’s Ramadan is predicted to start in early June. So get your marketing strategy ready, startups.

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Image Credit: Emma Van Sant on Unsplash

The post Indonesians behave differently during Ramadan – here’s what businesses need to know appeared first on e27.

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