Middle class and upper middle class Indians are not only buying less than before, they are also buying very different items — guitars and weights, e-readers and children’s books, and robotic vacuum cleaners and super mops are filling up online shopping carts.
Buying patterns are largely getting dictated by life’s travails under lockdown, major online marketplaces and retail chains say. Denied the comfort of domestic help doing the cleaning, and/or the cook doing lunches and dinners, the relatively better off are buying more labour-saving household devices that get the job done. Equally in demand are products that keep locked-in children as well as adults engaged.
Amazon India’s head of seller services Gopal Pillai tweeted Thursday night children’s books, women’s sleepwear and guitars are selling briskly. And some of the highest spikes are for products like robotic vacuum cleaners and dishwashers.
https://twitter.com/GopalPillai/status/1263470313955897351
Similar buying patterns are replicated across other retail platforms – Flipkart, and leading chains such as Future Group, Reliance Retail and Vijay Sales.
Life under lockdown has led to specific demand surges that have produced supply shortages. Dishwashers and super mops weren’t big sellers when domestic help was easily available. Now these products are in short supply.
Cooking on your own may be fun, but it’s also a chore many are unused to. So, mixer-grinders, oven-grills, hand-held blenders, and non-stick cookware are in unusual demand. And to not get bored at home, families are buying board games and toys. As for bigger orders for home and inner wear, and flip-flops, they reflect exigencies of spending long periods at home.
Future Group’s CEO for Big Bazaar Sadashiv Nayak calls it consumers settling down to the new normal. “Some of these purchases would continue for the next couple of months. For instance, work from home fashion essentials like pyjamas, basic t-shirts and shorts,” says Nayak, adding these categories reported 1.8-2 times jump in sales at store level on-year.
A Flipkart spokesperson said toys, streaming devices, sleepwear and labour-saving household devices are in high demand. Amazon India also said working out equipment, Kindle e-book readers, Fire TV and Echo smart speakers are other in-demand products. Ecommerce sale of ‘non-essentials’ and brick and mortar stores got government clearance to reopen on May 1.
But one old summer favourite is back in the reckoning, especially in the North, where temperatures are hitting 40 degrees and above – air conditioners. Vijay Sales director Nilesh Gupta said if brisk demand continues for another few days, ACs and air coolers may recover 60-70% of their entire summer sales.
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