Published on October 20, 2021
Bengaluru: Covid has impacted lives and the economy immensely since 2020. As a result all industries have reported a marked decline in overall sales. With almost two years of the pandemic underway, festival habits have also changed and evolved during this time. With the festive season approaching yet again, it is time to take a step back and look at new and emerging trends shaping consumer behaviour.
Snapbizz conducted a study on the FMCG sector and found that there have been fluctuations in the sales across various categories between 2019 to 2021, with 2021 showing a steep rise. This is an ongoing study that Snapbizz has been conducting from the first quarter of 2019, monitoring 2000 kirana stores as the sample size. There has been a marked shift in consumer buying behavior over the last three years, quarter on quarter.
Statistics show that FMCG sales-
Mr. Prem Kumar, Founder & CEO, Snapbizz, says, “The pandemic has affected all of us in some way or the other and unfortunately it has affected small businesses very badly. But I am glad to see that they have picked up the speed of recovery from losses because of the festive season where they have seen an increase in their sales. We have also seen that there is a significant change in the buying behavior of the consumers as many of them prefer to shop online than stepping outside to make a purchase”.
Festive season has given an opportunity for retailers to recover from losses occurred during the covid lockdowns. Kirana stores have been making the best of the festival season by offering their customers discounts and reward points on products to result in more sales. For example, some products such as oil and ghee are on display at the counters, with some seasonal festive offer packs.
Other highlights of the study:
If we look at post-covid festive season, people are now shifting their focus to healthier items such as dry fruits, energy and health drinks that would improve their health. Before covid, people would buy oil tins but now this has become a matter of the past. Now most of the people prefer buying oil packets. There has been a sharp decrease in sales of beauty products as people aren’t going out or attending events and hence there is not much need for these products.
Kirana stores are leveraging Snapbizz technology to tide up during the festive season. They have been using SB supply chain solutions to ensure optimization of inventory and smart procurement. The online app snap order which delivers storefront has been used extensively during the festival season; shopkeepers believe that they have opened stores in every house. The customized shop stores’ offers and creation of festive season baskets for customers extensively. Brands have also been running many consumer offers using the consumer engagement features of Snapbizz like printing consumer offers on bill, putting banners on the consumer app, sending special SMS and greetings to the customers. There has been a spike in the credit given to the consumers by the stores during the festive season period and retailers have been using our Katha book feature to remind customers.