Young India switches over to local brands
NEW DELHI: India’s urban young turned to local brands and sustainable products and took a fancy to organic and ayurvedic solutions as the pandemic continued to alter consumer behaviour, a new survey found.
Gen Z and millennials now prefer a conscious and contactless shopping experience, a report from the data sciences division of advertising agency Dentsu India said.
The report, titled The Next Normal: The Rise of the Contactless Economy, sampled over 500 people across Genz (aged 5-25 years) and millennials (aged 25-39 years) in five metros and urban cities. Sixty per cent of the sample were in the Gen Z category.
Seven out of 10 consumers were ready to buy a lesserknown brand with a preference for local brands to international ones in categories such as fastmoving consumer goods, personal and home care, health products and apparel, among others. “Millennials and Gen Z audiences lean towards local, socially and environmentally sustainable choices and are mindful of what brands stand for as well. There is also a heightened preference for products that use organic and ayurvedic ingredients as opposed to those that have high chemicals in the personal care category,” said Abhinay Bhasin, vice-president (Asia Pacific) and head of Dentsu Marketing Cloud (DMC) Insights, Dentsu International.
Covid has led to a sharp focus on health, reflecting in higher spending on sanitization and immunity products. Eighty four per cent of millennials and 75% of Gen Z surveyed said they constantly worry about their personal health.
Almost half (49%) said they now rely on Ayurveda for their immunity needs. Around 60% of respondents turned to immunity boosters, with a drastic rise in the demand and preference for ayurvedic treatments. This split is more or less equal among millennials and Gen Z. Their preferred brands include Dabur Chyawanprash, Revital, Patanjali and Himalaya Vitamins.
Lockdowns and restrictions have fuelled the online economy, even in traditional categories like banking. The report highlighted that close to 60% of transactions of surveyed consumers were fulfilled via virtual wallets, 23% via credit and debit cards and the rest through cash. Digital payments platform Google Pay enjoys the lion’s share of online payments, followed by Paytm, the survey found.
Online shopping, already popular among digital natives, has grown further. The study said Gen Z has increased its online shopping from 12% to 30%, while millennials have doubled it from 16% to 32% during the lockdown, with companies expanding their online footprint.
Groceries and snacks have seen a threefold rise in online deliveries. While food delivery is still largely online, there has been a recent shift and a continuation of food service consumption offline due to the rise of home cooks.