The festive season is a splurge and spend time for many shoppers looking to often maximise discounts during online purchases. However, many still prefer offline shopping mode and step out to enjoy shopping from local markets. A recent report by Kiwi, a platform for credit purchases via UPI, highlighted that Indian shoppers are showing a strong preference for offline purchases, with a 30 per cent increase in spend-per-user.
The data shed light on how people stepped out to support local merchants and neighbourhood stores, with the majority of transactions taking place in small, local shops and general stores during Dhanteras and Diwali.
Festive Shopping With Local Spirit
The report highlights that local stores and merchants were at the centre of the festive shopping spirit. General stores alone saw a 55 per cent surge in spending, the report states.
Jewellery purchases, which is a Dhanteras tradition leading up to Diwali celebrations, rose by 17 per cent. Other categories like groceries, dining, and electronics also witnessed a spike wherein spend-er-user surged by 24 per cent, 18 per cent and 24 per cent respectively.
This broad pattern of spending shows the diverse needs of Indian shoppers during festive celebrations as they choose to shop locally.
The data shows that neighbourhood merchants benefitted greatly from such offline purchases wherein spend-per-user at small stores grew by a remarkable 31 per cent in Tier 1 cities and 29 per cent in Tier-2 cities. This is much higher than the increases seen at large retailers which saw a 23 per cent rise in Tier-1 and 17 per cent in Tier 2 cities.
Clearly, this festive season the consumers felt a pull to support small businesses within their communities.
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Who Spent The Most?
When it comes to the spending habits of Indian consumers the urban shoppers often lead the race. According to the report, in Tier 1 cities, shoppers spent more on experiences with dining up by 22 per cent and jewellery by 18 per cent.
However, the Tier-2 consumers were more steadfast in spending on essentials such as electronic purchases where the spend increased by 41 per cent. The general store spending also saw a significant rise at 64 per cent.
Says Mohit Bedi, co-founder of Kiwi, “This festive season, we saw the spirit of community shine through as people shopped at small merchants and enjoyed the freedom and flexibility that Credit on UPI brings.” He notes that the facility of Credit on UPI, a made-in-India solution, connects consumers with local businesses in ways that feel both seamless and meaningful.
The data for this report was gathered across 400 cities, with a user base of over 1 lakh on the Kiwi platform.
