PremiumNEW DELHI: More consumers shopped for health and wellness products amidst the ongoing second wave, cutting back on discretionary purchases such as apparel, beauty, and alcohol, according to a survey of urban Indians by international research and data analytics group YouGov.
Findings of Yougov’s covid-19 Consumer Monitor survey conducted between 18th-23rd June were published on Monday and data was collected form 3,000 respondents.
Over 60% of those surveyed reported buying more health and wellness products offline—this includes medicines and sanitizers etc. Meanwhile, over 50% reported buying similar products online too.
In the duration of the survey, 44% respondents reported buying grocery items in the last two weeks; while only 20% spent money on entertainment such as films and gaming. Fewer people spent on fashion, beauty and alcohol with 11%, 8% and 7% respondents agreeing to have spent on these categories, respectively.
The report comes as India is emerging out of state-wide lockdowns amidst the second covid-19 wave.
While several discretionary categories were reporting strong recovery in the March quarter—the same was impacted as covid cases started to rise again in April. As a result, most retailers of non-essential goods are staring at a weak June qaurter.
Retailer Metro Cash and Carry said that demand for health and wellness products continued to remain high in May.
“People are still looking for immunity building products. Products such as Chyawanprash, ProteinX, Pediasure etc. continued to be in demand. Demand for hot beverages went up by 2% from April 2021 to May 2021 making the growth of this segment at 12% as compared to the same period last year," the retailer said.
Demand for food items such as oats was up 31%; while soups witnessed a 4% rise in the demand from April 2021 to May 2021. Discretionary categories such as beauty and cosmetics declined, however, soaps and shampoos continued to witness increased demands, it said.
Companies said spends on non-essential items could pick up in the coming weeks.
“The economy has been hit severely this time round vis-à-vis last time as the pandemic hit closer home. The second wave has impacted the masses emotionally and psychologically. Hardly any family has been left untouched by covid-19, making people cautious and fearful of spending, restricting buying to only essential goods or medical supplies. Everyone wanted to save up in case of medical exigencies," said Rohit Mathur, president of the fans division, Usha International.
The company expects business momentum to pick up pace in July as consumer sentiment looks up, resulting in the growth of sales.
Meanwhile, consumers cited their preference for visiting offline stores for stocking up on groceries.
“A majority (58%) preferred shopping for groceries offline by visiting a store or placing an order on phone. Having said that, a large proportion (42%) ordered online through delivery apps," according to findings of the survey.
Among those who ordered groceries online, safety stood as the biggest reason for choosing the format (63%), followed by convenience (51%).
On the other hand, flexibility to pay the local store at their convenience emerged as the top reason for not buying groceries online. This suggests that "consumers are looking for hassle-free ways to shop without worrying about cash in hand," the note said.
Another 30% said they bought via local stores citing concerns with the quality of products purchased online and the convenience of having products home-delivered.
“This presents a great opportunity for online shopping platforms with ‘buy now pay later’ feature and they can encourage consumers to switch online by providing a convenient shopping experience amidst the pandemic," YouGov said in its findings.
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