Festive season: Majority to shop online, 80% to look for local items

Online shopping is likely to get a new boost in the coming festival season, as around 51 per cent consumers are likely to shop online during the period, according to a recent survey.

In the 2019 survey of 'LocalCircles', only 27 per cent of those planning festive spending had indicated using ecommerce sites as their primary channel for shopping.

"This shows that 51 per cent of those doing festive shopping this year will use ecommerce sites and apps as their primary channel, a sizable change from previous years," said the 2020 survey for festival season by LocalCircles.

Further, on the question of willingness to buy from MSMEs, small businesses, emerging brands, weavers and artisans, around 80 per cent said a definite 'yes' while only 10 per cent said 'no'. Around 10 per cent were unsure.

The survey received over three lakh responses from over 330 districts of India. In the survey, 61 per cent consumers have indicated that they will engage in festive spending this year, a reduction from 2019 when 78 per cent consumers had indicated that they will shop during the festival season.

"When consumers in the 2020 survey were asked about the primary channel they would use for their festive shopping, in response, 26 per cent said e-commerce sites and apps, 11 per cent said they will call local retail stores and get home delivery, 25 per cent said local stores and ecommerce sites, while 24 per cent said they will visit malls, local retailers, and markets. Only 14 per cent were unsure about it," said a statement by LocalCircles..