Two-third households plan festive spending this season, says survey

The consumer sentiment for the upcoming festive season has improved from the Covid-19 days - good news for India’s manufacturing, services and the travel and tourism sector, indicates the results of an online survey. Two third of the respondents said they intend to spend money during this festival season, with half of them willing to spend over ₹10,000 on festival purchases, the survey revealed.

The survey, carried out by community social media platform LocalCircles, received 58,000 responses from household consumers located in 362 districts of the country.

To the first question “how much do you plan to spend additionally as a household during this festive season, 3% of the respondents said as a household they are planning to spend ₹100,000 or more. Another 9% is planning to spend between ₹50,000 – ₹100,000, 15% between ₹20,000 – ₹50,000, 6% between ₹10,000-20,000. The biggest chunk - 17% said they plan to spend between ₹5,000- ₹10,000 during the season. While 9% said they intend to spend up to ₹2,000, 6% of household respondents said they will spend but remained undecided about the amount. However, there were 35% of respondents who said that they “don’t plan to spend anything this festive season”, an indication of the financial stress families are still going through.

The preference for offline shopping was also clear from the survey as nearly half of the respondents said they wish to visit malls or stores or markets for the purchase. LocalCircles say that 49% of household consumers are keen to make physical purchases, higher than the 40% who opted for it in a similar survey conducted last year. Despite the growth in e-commerce, the number of respondents who preferred online shopping dipped from 39% last year to 33% this year.

On their choice of purchase, 35% of respondents said they are planning to buy “Pooja/ Diwali supplies including diyas, lamps, candle, lighting, flowers, etc” while another 26% are planning “festival groceries like gift packs, gourmet foods, dry fruits, chocolates, fresh fruits, traditional sweets, etc.” Some 6% wanted to go for white goods and appliances; another 6% preferred smartphones and consumer electronics; and 4% jewelry, and another 4% automobiles.

The survey also looked at the services sector, another key sector of the economy that was badly hit during the pandemic leading to the loss of income and jobs. This festive season, the survey found rising sentiment for travel, home repair services, eating out or entertainment, and other services. Nearly 24% of respondents revealed plans to travel, whether by flight, train, or road. While 20% are planning to undertake home repairs, 10% plan to avail of eating-out options or home deliveries.

Among the responses, 64% came from men. While 44% of respondents were from tier 1, 33% were from tier 2, and 23% of respondents were from tier 3, 4, and rural districts.