It’s been two and a half years since the COVID-19 pandemic began. After this tragic incident, this year’s festive season in India will have no restrictions or holdbacks. With a return to normal life consumers around the country are expected to scale up festive shopping budgets this year. Significant growth in online festive sales in India is predicted because of ease of returns, competitive prices and expansion of products within the affordability range of the buyers.
The Benori knowledge survey on three metro cities found that approximately 68.7% of Indian consumers have planned to increase their shopping budgets, with Mumbai (81%) and Bangalore (74%) taking the lead. Surprisingly more than half (52%) of the shoppers in Delhi NCR are planning to not increase their expenditure or decrease their budget this year. The difference between Delhi and other metro cities is because of stricter COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns that Mumbai and Bangalore faced in the last year, whereas Delhi NCR had a normal festive season. Around three-fourths (70%) of respondents from Silicon Valley of India and 57% from Mumbai cited a return to normal life post-pandemic as the factor behind their budget surge. The second strongest motivator for Bangalore residents (34%) was not shopping as much in previous years, whereas according to around 50% of Mumbaikars and approx. 42% of Delhi residents, it is their salary increment that allows them to scale their spending. 44% of respondents across India are planning to spend over 20,000 INR. Mumbai and Bangalore secured to rank higher in terms of spending capabilities, with over 50% of consumers holding a budget of around 25,000 INR. 14% of Financial capital consumers plan to spend more than 55,000 INR. In Delhi on the other hand, the majority (73%) of consumers reported spending less than 25,000 INR.
Categorically for Indian consumers fashion (clothing, shoes and accessories) is the most popular (76%) for shopping, followed by home appliances & electronics (59%), home furnishing (45%), phones (43%), and precious metal (39%). More customers (43%) from Mumbai plan to purchase gold and silverware compared to residents of other Indian cities. Most (81%) shoppers across the country intend to shop through major e-commerce platforms, followed by category-specific platforms (56%) and direct-to-consumer websites/apps (38%). Despite these statistics, 58% of respondents from Bangalore revealed that they would patronise traditional department stores this season.
According to the survey, Ashish Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO of Benori, referred, “After two years of a declined market of festivities, especially in major cities like Bangalore and Mumbai, consumers are eager to celebrate this festive season with nostalgic enthusiasm. Post-pandemic, this will be the first normal festive season where people can celebrate and enjoy the festivities with their family and friends without any restrictions. This provides brands with a great opportunity to engage with their customer and increase their sale. Understanding the importance of regional buying habits which can help them drive purchase intent for the brand through relevant exciting offers.”
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