Food and grocery will be the most shopped items in the coming quarter as well as coronavirus has trained the focus of consumers on essential goods.
Food and grocery will be the most shopped items in the coming quarter as well as coronavirus has trained the focus of consumers on essential goods. With non-essential shopping taking a backseat, essential goods will fuel the Indian retail industry’s growth as coronavirus has induced a slowdown in the economy and consumers are only focusing on daily essentials, a joint report by the Retailers Association of India (RAI) and real estate services firm ANAROCK, said on Thursday. Amid the pandemic, the average bill value for essential goods has risen by nearly 1.5 times to Rs 900 per basket at present from Rs 650 per basket in early-March.
These categories are least on consumer minds
While apparel, fast-moving consumer durable and electronics, furniture and home furnishings and quick-service restaurants are expected to see a quicker V-shaped recovery in the next 2-3 quarters, sales in some other segments will take time to revive. This includes beauty, wellness and personal care and home essentials and they may take 4-6 quarters to recover fully.
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In total, a majority of retailers do not expect business recovery before the coming six months. A small percentage of retailers also believe that business recovery will take more than a year.
What has changed amid pandemic?
In the retail sector, omni-channel has taken centre stage. “Omnichannel was gaining importance before the pandemic. The pandemic has enhanced the importance of retailers having an omnichannel strategy since concepts of digital browsing, click and collect, curbside delivery, and video shopping have gained importance,” Kumar Rajagopalan, RAI Chief Executive Officer, said. Moreover, hygiene and sanitation are now of utmost importance in malls with them taking digital route to ensure safety and hygiene. Furthermore, coronavirus has pushed customers to make purchases based on convenience either as delivery to home or by shopping at offline nearby stores. the pandemic has also been a major push to e-commerce in India with online spending on a marked rise.
