Walmart India on Monday reported a ‘steadying of consumption’ across several essential categories in the last few weeks.

The e-tailer, which operates 28 Best Price stores across nine States, now expects some pent-up demand for non-essentials.The company works on a membership-based wholesale platform, where kiranas, offices, institutions, hotels, restaurants and caterers as well as the army and paramilitary source items such as groceries, personal care and other essentials.

As per Anuj Singh, chief merchandising officer, Best Price, Walmart India, a couple of weeks into the lockdown, supply pipelines had depleted across consumption categories while the demand from kiranas for items such as tea and biscuits continued to be strong.

“The initial weeks were challenging given supply chain lines were impacted but With support from our existing supplier partners, onboarding of new suppliers and rapid commercialisation of new product development in our private label portfolio, we were able to meet our customer demands.We see a steadying of consumption level across these categories. Now with non-essential categories also opening up, we expect some pent up demand in small kitchen and home appliances like irons, kettles, pressure cookers, and fans,’’ he said Mr. Singh.

When the lockdown was initially imposed, most e-tailers saw a spike in categories like sanitizers, personal wash, staples, and home cleaning products. However, more and more categories got added in the following weeks.

Walmart India said it would continue to monitor the supply chain and consumption behaviour of its Best Price members in order to meet their needs more effectively.