COVID-19 has reshaped Indian consumer behaviour

75% of Indian consumers have changed their buying behaviour post-pandemic. A majority of consumers across demographics and geographies are reimagining their values and basing purchasing decisions on factors beyond price and quality, post the pandemic. 71% of those surveyed in India are coming out of the pandemic have reimagined their behaviours and values as consumers. They have re-evaluated what is important to them in life and are increasingly focused on their personal purpose. This is having a direct impact on what, how and why they buy, according to Accenture’s 16th annual research report.

An additional 22% consumers in India seem to have evolving values and purchasing mindsets while the unprecedented experience of the pandemic has had no impact on the buyer values of only 7% respondents. Driving innovation and growth in a post-pandemic economy will require the C-Suite to structure the entire organization around experience and ensure all aspects of operations including marketing, sales, innovation, R&D and customer service and understand new consumer motivations.

Experts say, it is extremely important to become a listening organization and invest continuously in data and analytics to understand changing consumer preferences.

Secondly, there is a substantial spike in eCommerce during this phase. E-commerce has transformed the way business is done in India. The Indian E-commerce market is expected to grow to US$111.40 billion by 2025 from US$46.2 billion as of 2020. By 2030, it is expected to reach US$350 billion. By 2021, total e-commerce sales are expected to reach US$ 67-84 billion from the US$52.57 billion recorded in 2020, a significant 30 percent jump from the sales in 2019 that registered a total value of $40.44 billion. Much of the growth for the industry has been triggered by an increase in internet and smartphone penetration.

As of July 2021, the number of internet connections in India significantly increased to 784.59 million, driven by the ‘Digital India’ programme. Out of the total internet connections, 61% connections were in urban areas, of which 97% connections were wireless. According to NASSCOM, despite COVID-19 challenges, India's e-commerce market continues to grow at 5%, with expected sales of US$56.6 billion in 2021.

Propelled by rising smartphone penetration, launch of 4G network and increasing consumer wealth, the Indian E-commerce market is expected to grow to US$200 billion by 2026 from US$38.5 billion in 2017. Online retail sales in India is expected to grow 31% to touch US$32.70 billion in 2018, led by Flipkart, Amazon India and Paytm Mall. After China and the US, India had the third-largest online shopper base of 140 million in 2020.

Deepak Sahu, President & CEO, VARINDIA