Since the start of the pandemic, new trends have shaped up. That's going to be the point in focus for today's piece.
Investors have chosen to ignore uncertainties and trust the global indicators. After China's positive Q1 GDP growth, now US retail sales rose 7.5% in June. Corona cases continue to rise but several vaccines are in the last stage of trial and breakthrough is expected sooner rather than later.
Where the stress lingers on:
The virus and the lockdown that followed definitely changed several consumption patterns and consumer preferences. Several Indian states continue to grapple with lockdown, adding to the uncertainty for retailers. Demand for apparel is expected to remain soft owing to the sharp dip in demand for office wear, party/wedding wear, and beauty products.
Food & Grocery (F&G) retailers like DMart on the other hand are expected to fare better. But, frequent store closures and employee availability continues to trouble even them. Similarly, the impact on dine-in revenues and delivery volumes continues to remain low despite the gradual pickup in takeaways orders.
Higher demand for gold coins, Gold for Harvest scheme sales, and wedding jewelry were in high demand in June. As Titan reported, ~85% recovery in casual jewelry (Caratlane) also came as a pleasant surprise. Pent-up demand factor surely played a part here. Whether the trend will sustain or not remains to be seen.
What's hot:
Home cooking is a trend that has picked up during pandemic for sure. According to RedSeer Consulting and Research, there has been a 61% rise in consumer spending on home cooking, mostly because the possibilities of dining out dwindled amid the viral pandemic.
In the three months to end-June, fresh packaged food brand iD Fresh Food has seen paratha sales rise by 60%, In the ready-to-heat segment, sale of idli batter, and paneer, too jumped by 20% over the previous quarter.
Meat products and seafood brand Licious has seen a more than 300% jump in sales of ready-to-eat meat spreads while Amul India got the traction in the sweets segment. keeping the shift in consumer preference in mind, the company launched Haldi Doodh, Panchamrit and adoption of ras-malai and gulab jamuns over the last few months.
