Survey: 80% Indian consumers excited to shop this festive season, spending through mobile wallets up by 7x

Festive Shopping Index 2020 by the Retailers Association of India (RAI) and LitmusWorld captures the consumer sentiment on several aspects influencing purchase decisions this festive season. There have been significant changes in consumer behaviour due to the pandemic and a push for digital adoption across industries.

The survey highlights that 80% of Indian consumers are looking forward to festive shopping, and 50% shoppers are considering shopping for essentials, whereas 32% intend to engage in essentials as well as recreational shopping.

“Retailers are looking at the festive season with some amount of cautious optimism. We believe that all formats of retail will see resurgence but on an omnichannel basis. Customers do feel the need to reconnect with a sense of cheer and are slowly coming out to shop. However, they may not shop in the same way they have been shopping all these years. There is a lot of reliance on what is being shown to them digitally.”

Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, Retailers Association of India (RAI)

The survey indicates that more consumers plan to shop online (75%) than at stand-alone stores (66%) or malls (37%). A new trend that has emerged this year is that of shopping on social media with 21% consumers looking at exploring this channel to fulfil their shopping needs this festive season. The survey further highlights that 94% of the respondents will shop for personal use while 23% consumers will shop for gifting to reconnect with family and friends.

The categories that show a significant demand are: Apparel (53%), Home appliances and electronics (47%), Work-from-home products (37%) and Home furniture (34%). The pandemic has pushed consumers to find substitutes to carry out home chores at ease while balancing their professional lives and working from home. This has given a boost to demand for home appliances, consumer durables, and work essentials.  

Digital payments continue to be the preferred mode of payment with 67% consumers preferring credits cards. While as many as 21% consumers have indicated a preference for making payments through UPI, the preference for mobile wallets (37%) has seen a surge by 7X as compared to last year. However, the wallet sizes are indicatively shrinking this festive season with around 58% decline in the super shopper category i.e. consumers with a budget of over Rs 1 lakh for the festive season, as compared to last year. Interestingly, 21% consumers intend to spend up to Rs 5000 this year, which is an increase from 15% last year.

“In spite of the pandemic, the Indian consumer is still very excited for the festive shopping season and that’s a big positive for retailers. However, the industry will need to respond with heavy discounts and superior customer experience across offline and online channels to boost festive demand and increase the wallet share of consumers”

Khushaal Talreja, Head of Marketing & Partnerships, LitmusWorld

Consumers are likely to make their purchase decisions based on three main criteria: product features, discounts and experience. And they find Online & Social media and TV advertisements to be the most influential advertising mediums.

The Festive Shopping Index is an annual consumer sentiment survey by the Retailers Association of India (RAI) and LitmusWorld. The survey initiates conversations with Indian consumers to measure their shopping sentiment during the festive season. The Index predicts the predominant consumer shopping behaviour during the festive season, which retailers can use as a guide to becoming more consumer-centric during the most crucial quarter of the year.  

---

About Retailers Association of India:

Retailers Association of India (RAI) is the unified voice of Indian retailers. RAI works with all the stakeholders for creating the right environment for the growth of the modern retail industry in India. It is a strong advocate for retailing in India and works with all levels of government and stakeholders with the aim to support employment growth and career opportunities in retail, to promote and sustain retail investments in communities from coast-to-coast, and to enhance consumer choice and industry competitiveness.

Visit http://www.rai.net.in