As Covid-19 lockdowns ease, Indians still prefer home deliveries: Survey

As states slowly begin to ease restrictions on movement, imposed due to the second wave of the pandemic, 66 per cent, or two in three households in India will continue to prioritise contactless home delivery and social distancing norms over the next three months. This trend was observed not just in the big cities, but also tier-1,2,3 towns, a survey by community led social media platform LocalCircles has found. 

To buy what they needed to run their household, people in even smaller towns placed orders with e-commerce apps, local websites or sent a WhatsApp message to local stores for essentials. Many local administrations even issued a set of numbers of local stores to call for purchasing groceries via home deliveries.

The survey received more than 40,000 responses from citizens residing in 303 districts of India. 

Among a list of “must-have” products households are likely to procure in the next three months, 33 per cent said “equipment such as laptop and mobile phone for work from home or other activities”, 23 per cent said “air conditioners, coolers, fans, whitegoods, others”, and 22 per cent said “home appliances, bedding and furnishings”. This means that 1 in 3 households will need to purchase a gadget, while 1 in 4 require whitegoods in the next three months, according to LocalCircles.

One of the top areas where LocalCircles saw consumer posts and queries in the last 1.5-2 months was the need to buy items related to children's needs- from books and stationery to extra-curricular activities or hobbies to keep children engaged at home during this time. 

In response to a question about “must-have” products they need to procure for children and grandchildren in the next three months, 8 per cent respondents said school books, stationery and equipment for online classes, 5 per cent said children's apparel, footwear, raincoats and so on, and 7 per cent said other children’s needs such as toys to keep children engaged at home, hobby, supplies, etc.

The findings indicate that 51 per cent of households have various items they need to purchase for children in the next 3 months. This question in the survey received 15,199 responses.

The survey found that 40 per cent of households believe they will need to purchase school books, stationery, and online class equipment for children in the next three months. Given that school sessions have just begun in some states and will start in almost all states over the next 30 days, this is an immediate need and area of spending for two in five families.

In addition to the above poll, LocalCircles also conducted a feedback exercise on the subject of unlocking of retail and local businesses and markets. "The key recommendation from consumers here was that state governments and district administrations as a first unlock step must consider opening stores only for home deliveries and if cases stay low, opening stores for consumer walk-ins with reduced working hours. According to consumers, if over a 2-week period, the daily case load continues to stay low or declining, full opening of retail stores and markets may be considered," LocalCircles said. 

When consumers were asked about what the criteria for unlocking should be in a district, majority seemed to be in favour of active cases falling below 500, Test Positivity Rate (TPR) falling below 2% per cent and a week-over-week declining case load as the criteria for opening up business activity.