Is the cabin fever setting in yet? I’ll go first. I never thought I will miss going to an office so much. Give me a performance appraisal or something, just make it in-person.
Also according to the WHO — the Indian Variant of the Corona Virus will no longer be referred to as such — rather it will be called the ‘Delta’ variant. Similarly, my laptop will no longer be referred to as such either — it will be called ‘That Tippy Tappy Thing’. By Lenovo. Yes, it’s a Lenovo.
Consumer spending over the last 18 months has taken many hits. While the first wave was difficult for most — the second wave and associated lockdown has been brutal, wiped out life savings and made everyone cautious when it comes to spending. According to this report, an additional 230 million people fell below the poverty line in India. Yup. For Context — That’s more than 10 times the population of Australia.
In the E-Commerce Space however; there are some rather surprising segments of consumer growth. The numbers below show how certain categories have moved in the share of total transactions (Yes, we have brand-wise volumes & value of sales for these e-commerce).
Fragrance Sales went up a 260% in their share of total transactions on E-Commerce. Much of the spike has come post Jan 2021. Why?
Seriously, why would fragrance sales suddenly shoot up now? Would love to get your thoughts…
Not Surprisingly, Sales of Medical Supplies increased by 1055%. The two peaks line up quite nicely with the 2 waves.
The Bathroom & Cleaning Category — was big in the first wave but people seemed to have gotten over it in the second.
Children’s clothing was the most popular category in apparel. In a normal situation — Parents may have chosen to go to malls and offline stores to find something new for the young‘uns but venturing out is not for the faint hearted. Adult behaviour seems to have held fairly steady with changes emerging as late as April ’21.
‘Curtains’ too, seem to have found favour with Indian internet e-commerce shoppers. Confirming a broader home improvement trend that the lockdown seems to have set off.
Grooming & Make Up spiked initially but has remained fairly static; keep in mind however that these categories already enjoy a large share of total transactions! A large spike in April 2020 is also a result of a great fall in sales of other categories. So just by virtue of other categories falling, these become more dominant on a ‘Share of Transactions’ basis…
More expensive items such as Mobiles and Televisions took a big hit though. These are high value spend categories that people are going to stay away from in an environment of economic uncertainty.
Like many industries, electronics manufacturing too is getting hit from all sides — supply is down since factories are shut, sales take a hit since fewer channels are available due to lockdown restrictions; even e-commerce platforms can service only ‘essential’ categories; demand took a hit since people are making fewer discretionary spends. Pretty much the perfect conditions for a vicious economic cycle.
Get in touch for a complete breakdown of category-wise performance.
Thanks for your time and stay safe,
- Aman
91–9818180295
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