Spotting India’s PRIME innovation moment

27 May 2020, National: Globally, Deloitte unveiled a 30-day analysis based consumer survey** defining the current persona of the India consumer to be ‘conscious, tech-savvy and an empowered shopper in Covid times.

With a data driven overview, survey details highlight the current state of India consumer who is anxious about health and safety at one end and is also trying to stitch up a plan of the new normal. 

Given the power of digital connectivity and the numerous efforts of strategic decisions recently announced by the government of India, the Indian consumer is gearing up to take informed decisions in financial spending ensuring a fair balance between demand fulfilment and personal safety.

The consumption patterns reflect the consumer is carefully evaluating need versus wants of products and services in the current lockdown state as stated in the Wave3* of the Deloitte Global State of the Consumer Tracker.

Commenting on the survey highlights, subject matter expert, Deloitte India said: “The survey gives a pulse of the consumer behaviour and trend during these challenging times. It gives a reflection of the heightened consumer apprehension, which are at the core of their decision-making. This, in turn, will also steer consumer product companies to build their new strategies around sales and marketing. Building value for brands virtually is going to be another task that companies would need to focus in the future”.

India insights show consumers are conscious

Spending pattern of the consumers has changed over the last six weeks with 55% respondents willing to spend a lot more on less discretionary items like groceries, 52% on everyday household goods, 31% on healthcare, 47% on medicines and 46% on home internet/mobile phone vis-à-vis discretionary items like Cable TV (31%) and Entertainment (29%) which shows the intension to get back to normal lifestyle.

#Vocalforlocal sentiment arise: In wave3* 72% consumers want to buy from locally sourced items going forward which goes on to show the trust built by Kiranas during lockdown.

Consumers are no longer rushing about being home stocked with more than they immediately need. This intension has reduced from 78% in wave2* to 66% in wave3* and shows that the consumer is slowly taking conscious and not drastic decisions.

64% of consumers said they will buy from brands that have responded well to crisis. The India shopper is thus loyal to the demand fulfilment and authenticity of brands much more than brand loyalty during crisis.

Consumers are tech-savvy and empowered

Intent to use digital services has seen a rise with 44% respondents very likely to use it for groceries, 27% for virtual doctor appointments, 36% for exercise programs, 52% for Video conferencing with family and friends, 47% for Streaming entertainment and 53% for Payment apps/services

Online vs Offline 51% respondents feel the trend of online buying and pickup in-store is a safer option, while 37% respondents feel that it’s faster than shopping in the store

Consumer mobility (Vehicle ownership preference over public transport): 77% consumers want to limit the use of public transit and 70% avoiding ride hailing options altogether and 79% consumer have an intension to own a new vehicle and 73% say they like to keep the current vehicle.

About the survey:

Global State of the Consumer Tracker is a survey fielded using an online panel where consumers over 18 years old are invited to complete the questionnaire (translated into local languages) via email. The first survey was conducted during the week of 13 April 2020 and is fielded in 13 countries (targeting 1,000 per country/wave) and designed to be nationally representative of the overall population in each market.

The dashboard survey results would be an ongoing demonstration in almost 10 waves of bi-weekly analysis.

*The current analysis contains Wave1, Wave2 and Wave3 insights.
** The time frame is Apr15- May 19 as stated in the Consumer tracker link.

Countries in focus:

Australia (AU), Canada (CA), China (CN), France (FR), Germany (DE), India (IN), Italy (IT), Japan (JP), Netherlands (NL), South Korea (KR), Spain (ES), United Kingdom (UK) and United States (US)

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Notes to the editor for reference purposes only

This press release has been issued by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited

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Deloitte India herein refers to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited