No baaja, baraat over big brands
Young people today don’t want to make a statement with their shopping preferences, so if they’re spending money on big brands they’re doing it because they want quality, not to show off
Let the brands beware. Shopaholic and brand-conscious young Indians are looking at more than the label to throw their money at, reveals the Hindustan Times-MaRS Monitoring and Research Systems Youth Survey 2017.
Young people are showing surprising self-control during shopping expeditions. Expensive brands don’t tempt them. Price, quality and style dominate their choice, say for a pair of jeans or shoes, as well as the latest fad: Made in India.
The sample size for this survey is 5,700 with equal number of men and women in two age groups: 18 to 21 and 22 to 25.
About 61.4% of the respondents trust brands for better quality, a belief that leads 29.3% to say they won’t mind splurging on a good label. The style quotient lures 27.6% of them to buy expensive products.
“The pricing point is important and the choice of brand depends on the value of the product that I am getting for the money I am paying. So, I don’t blindly buy international brands just because they are international,” says 24-year old media professional Chahat Jain.
The vanity factor is almost discarded as 99% respondents say they don’t use top-of-the-line labels to show off. Just a miniscule 0.9% respondents actually aspire to buy luxury products. The trend is consistent among men and women.
The majority of those surveyed say buying expensive branded stuff is not connected with their self-esteem.
According to retail experts, the trend shows authenticity and quality is valued more by the youth today than the brand name.
“Brand value differs between the youth and older generations. For the young it is more about quality and authenticity that are at the same time hip and fashionable, rather than just the values attached to traditional expensive brands,” said Pinakiranjan Mishra, partner and national leader of retail and consumer products, EY.
The survey highlights prudent shopping habits among the youth as 65.9% say they’re not influenced by pushy salespersons to make an impulsive buy.
When asked to make a choice between Indian and international brands, 72% of the respondents, both men and women, tend to lean towards the former.
Youngsters prefer a wide choice as well. Multi-brand stores are preferred by 40.6% to shop for shoes and by 52.7% to buy denims. One-stop shops with a wide variety of brands and styles are important.
In a recent report, Megatrend Analysis, Euromonitor says technology will drive trends and projected a 400% growth in shopping through the internet by 2020. Purchases on mobile phones are set to grow to about 2,000% at the same time.
“Shifting values and access to the internet have created a great deal of new competition for customers,” the report adds.
At a time when online shopping is the buzzword, the HT-MaRS survey shows 54.9% prefer retail stores. Importantly, 57.2% of these respondents are women.
Amrita Sokhi, a 20-year-old second-year journalism student, agrees with the findings.
“Touch and feel are very important when I shop, so I prefer retail stores to online shopping. If the pricing advantage is taken away from online shopping I will always choose a brick-and-mortar store,” she says.