Latest survey suggests that the merchants in the country are anticipating an uptick in sales of up to 200 per cent in the coming months.
The survey found that 76 per cent of respondent merchants anticipate a better festive season than the last, owing to strongly positive consumer sentiment that is primarily driven by pent-up demand and deals and discounts.
Also, 77 per cent of the respondent merchants expect customers’ budgets to be higher than last year, 49 per cent believe that it will continue well until the New Year and January next.
Merchants added that smartphones and electronics will remain the largest selling category followed by fashion and accessories, home decor and personal care products. About 45 per cent of the respondents believe that the strong consumer sentiment will be driven by deals and discounts and 30 per cent feel that the pent-up demand will be a major contributor.
Major travel e-commerce players also said they are seeing strong demand that will last till the end of 2022. Led by domestic travel plans, they are expecting a surge in transactions by up to 200 per cent. The platforms revealed that Dubai, Maldives, Thailand and Bangkok, and other Southeast Asian countries emerged as the top international destinations, while Goa, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and others are emerging popular domestic destinations.
Insights for the ZestMoney survey were gathered from business partners and store managers of major retail players including Reliance Digital, Croma, Sangeetha Mobiles, Big C and other physical retail stores from cities and towns across Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Kerala, NCR, Punjab and other states. Top online and D2C merchants also participated in the survey.
Around 40 per cent of the respondents say customers are using cash and UPI for payments. Another 40 per cent of the merchants expect the purchases to be made on digital EMIs because of flexible tenures, low cost and convenience. Credit and debit cards were among the other popular payment instruments chosen by merchants.