Study: Despite economic slowdown, 89% consumers show big shopping plans this festive season!

In its 3rd edition, the Festive Shopping Index 2019 – co-created by LitmusWorld and the Retailers Association of India (RAI) has been published. The survey aims to capture the consumer shopping sentiment this festive season on several aspects influencing the purchase decisions of an Indian consumer. There have been significant changes in consumer sentiments towards shopping during this season compared to last year. The report throws light on the current economic conditions and the impact of the same on the end consumers and the foreseeable impact on various industries.

“In its third year, the Festive Shopping Index has given a clear direction to brands that customer experience cannot be ignored. Demand is here to stay if businesses deliver superior experiences across phygital touchpoints” – Ramesh Natarajan – COO & Co-Founder, LitmusWorld

Through the ‘Festive Shopping Index’, we initiated conversations with over 100,000 Indian consumers. The insights captured through the report have shown some stark differences in the consumers’ behaviour with a 3-year trend from 2017 to 2019. Here are some key insights captured from the report:

• Customer Experience (CX) continues to be the driving factor for making purchase decisions for Indian consumers. Ranked #3 after Product features and Pricing strategies, Customer Experience gains weight over EMI options, Cashbacks and Loyalty Programmes.
• Based on consumer insights, the following industries are expected to see a boom in their festive sales (over the same period in 2018):
  • Clothing and Apparel Retail to expect an increase of 7.5%
  • Consumer Electronics industry to expect increased sales of 9%
  • Smartphones and accessories to see a minor increase of 3.5% over 2018
  • Automobile industry to see the biggest jump of 40% in the auto sales
  • Miscellaneous categories to see a growth of 28.5%
• While the consumer’s insights bring good news for some industries the following industries are expected to see a slowdown during the 2019 festive season (Over the same period in 2018):
  • The retail jewellery and diamond industry is expected to see a drop of 18%
  • While the Furniture industry is expected to drop by a whopping 10%
• Holiday-related spends are expected to remain the same as compared to 2018.
• Over 26% of consumers are looking to spend between ₹15,000 – ₹30,000 during the festive season. 23% consumers wish to spend over ₹30,000 to a lakh. The number of consumers wishing to spend over ₹100,000 has seen a growth of 11% over 2018. The average limit of high value spends has seen an increase over 2018. Which leads us to question the credibility and the impact of the thought of economic slowdown.
• With the increased penetration and adoption of the internet, 55% of the consumers state that they are influenced by Digital Marketing (Includes a mix of social media, search engine optimisation and search engine marketing).
• Nearly 54% of festive shoppers stated Credit Cards as their preferred mode of payment. Lack of cash liquidity has resulted in a decrease in the number of ‘cash-only’ shoppers by 52.6%
• The 2019 festive shopping trend shows a shift from the number of online to offline shoppers by 10% – a direct result of personalised shopping experience expected by Indian consumers.

“Consumers have a lot to express about their experiences but brands aren’t doing enough to listen on a continuous basis. Contextual interactions are need of the hour. Consumer confidence cannot be regained by heavy discounting. Brands need to deliver genuine experiences across the customer lifecycle and the start to this journey is to understand last mile experiences in real-time” – Khushaal Talreja, Head of Marketing & Partnerships, LitmusWorld

“The Festive Shopping Index 2019 brings out the enthusiasm among consumers for festive shopping. This is encouraging. 61% of the survey respondents are looking at spending over Rs. 15,000/- this festive season and an enthusiastic 12% are looking to spend more than Rs. 1 Lakh during the ongoing festive season.This indicates that retailers have reasons to plan for a positive festive season.” – Kumar Rajagopalan, Chief Executive Officer, Retailers Association of India.