Mumbai, Sep 13, After two years of muted celebrations due to COVID restrictions, demand for services like mandap decorators, idol makers, and caterers saw a substantial rise for the forthcoming Navratri and Durga Puja, bringing in the much-needed cheer for India’s gig economy, reports the latest Justdial Consumer Insights.
Across India’s 1000 towns and cities, demand for a wide range of festival services like idol makers, mandap decorators, sweet shops, flower decorators, pooja item dealers, and caterers for Navratri and Durga Puja shot up by (YoY) 29%. The demand in Tier-I cities grew by 33% and that in Tier-II by 60%.
Commenting on the trend, Mr. Prasun Kumar, CMO, Just Dial, said: “After two challenging years it is heartening to see a significant improvement in consumer sentiment, and this is reflected in the rise in demand for a wide range of festival services, for Navratri and Durga Puja, on Just Dial. Across the country, demand for mandap decorators rose by 124%, for caterers by 55%, and for idol makers by 23%. The increase in searches in Tier-II cities also indicates that it has become important for all business to have the right online presence to enhance their reach. The forthcoming festive season is expected to provide the much-needed boost for a wide range of service providers and Justdial will be playing a key role in driving their growth.”
In line with the rising demand for the aforementioned services, demand for pooja item dealers, flower decorators, and sweet shops also soared ahead of the festive season across India. Searches for pooja item dealers rose by 16%, for sweet shops by 18%, and for flower decorators by 8%.
Among Tier-I cities, demand for mandap decorators saw a 118% jump, from last year, demand for idol makers rose by 29%, for caterers by 36%, for pooja item dealers by 21%, and for sweet shops by 13% while that for flower decorators remained stable. Durga Puja celebrations in Kolkata saw the eastern metropolis topping the demand for idol dealers, followed by Delhi and Mumbai.
Demand for mandap decorators was primarily driven by the cities of Kolkata, Delhi, and Mumbai while that for flower decorators remained high in Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad. Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata also saw searches for caterers soaring for Durga Puja and Navratri celebrations while online searches for sweet shops remained high in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru.
Online searches for festival services saw a massive (YOY) jump in Tier-II cities at 60%, which was almost the double of what was witnessed in Tier-I cities. The demand for idol makers remained high in Maharashtrian cities of Nashik, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Nagpur, and in Karnataka’s Mysore, primarily due to the recently concluded Ganesh Chaturthi, while mandap decorators were in demand in the cities of Coimbatore, Madurai, Surat, Trichy, and Salem. For puja item dealers, most of the searches in Tier-II cities were in Patna, Indore, Nagpur, Raipur, and Varanasi while Chandigarh, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Ernakulam, and Indore saw a surge in demand for flower dealers. Most of the demand for caterers was generated from the cities of Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Ernakulam, Goa, and Indore while that for sweet shops were from Chandigarh, Amritsar, Agra, Dehradun, and Allahabad.
