Shopping budget of consumers looking up this festive season: survey

While everybody is talking about an economic slowdown, a survey indicates that there is enthusiasm among consumers for festive shopping and the overall shopping budget of consumers is looking up. About 26 per cent of consumers are willing to spend from ₹15,000 to ₹30,000 and 23 per cent looking at spending above ₹30,000 to ₹1 lakh, says the Festive Shopping Index 2019 by Retailers Association of India (RAI) and LitmusWorld.

The survey indicates that 89 per cent of Indian consumers are willing to shop during the ongoing festive season - the rest 11 per cent not keen. The most preferred mode of payment opted by consumers are credit cards at 55 per cent as compared to 42 per cent last year, followed by debit cards at 28 per cent this year as compared to 26 per cent last year.

Less preference to cash spending

Consumers are resisting to spend cash during the ongoing festive season with the preference dropping from 19 per cent last year to 9 per cent this year. Mobile Wallets and Net Banking modes of payment also show a downward trend with 5 per cent and 3 per cent respectively this season as compared to 8 per cent and 6 per cent last year, says the survey, which was carried out with a sample size of around 50,000 consumers across India.

Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, RAI, in a release on the survey said, the Festive Shopping Index 2019 brings out the enthusiasm among consumers for festive shopping. This is encouraging. As many as 61 per cent of the survey respondents are looking at spending over ₹15,000 this festive season and an enthusiastic 12 per cent are looking to spend more than ₹1 lakh during the ongoing festive season. This indicates that retailers have reasons to remain positive.

Product features followed by discounts are the most influencing factors for purchase decisions this festive season. However, consumers are also looking at unique experiences and cashback offers, followed by attractive EMI offers and the opportunity to redeem their kitty of Loyalty Points.

Apparel and fashion category

In the last three years, apparel and fashion stands out as the most indulgent category. From 57 per cent of consumers wanting to shop for apparel in 2017 to 71 per cent of consumers shopping apparel this year. The second dominant category continuous to be home appliances and electronics at 49 per cent followed by mobile phones at 40 per cent this year.

However, consumers’ willingness to spend on jewellery and home furniture stands at 19 per cent. In addition, 16 per cent of consumers are considering spending on travel and 14 per cent are considering buying a new set of wheels. Online (76 per cent) and malls (71 per cent) continue to be the most preferred shopping channels for consumers , says the survey.

The most influential advertising mediums for consumers continue to be Online and Social Media, followed by TV, Newspaper, Outdoor and Radio. Shedding more light on the findings of the survey, said Ramesh Natarajan – COO & CoFounder, LitmusWorld. "In its third year, the Festive Shopping Index has given a clear direction to brands that customer experience cannot be ignored. Demand is here to stay if businesses deliver superior experiences across phygital [physical+digital] touch points."

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