Sale of home utility products outpaces fashion this festive season

Every festive season, online Indian shoppers buy new clothes and jewellery but COVID has changed that. Fashion is no longer at the top of mind of the Indian consumer. 

"What we are seeing now is that home-related products have overtaken fashion," says Rajnish Wahi, Senior Vice-President (Corporate Affairs and Communications), Snapdeal. 

"Since life is now centred around home and people are spending most of their time indoors, home category has gained prominence than dressing up," he adds. 

"Home category has grown over 30 per cent over last year's Diwali sales. With this, it has become the largest category on Snapdeal this year, overtaking the fashion category, which has traditionally been the top-performer at Snapdeal," he says. 

Within the home category, a large part of the sales comprises kitchen appliances such as dough makers, choppers, juicer blenders as people are cooking a lot more at home. There is also an increase in purchase of storage solutions and serveware followed by home linen such as bed sheets, bed covers, bath linen, comforters, cushion covers. 

"A lot of these things are replaced regularly and people wait for the festive season to make these purchases to give their house a new look. Also, this year, a lot of offline buyers are coming online to make the purchases," says Wahi.

Sales in fashion have increased over last year's Diwali but the growth isn't substantial. "A high percentage of it is coming from kidswear. It can be that parents want to indulge their kids and another reason is that kids outgrow their clothes quite fast," he adds. 

Snapdeal's "Kum Mein Dum" Diwali Sale started on October 16 and will be till October 20. 

Other than smartphones, at Amazon's Great Indian festival top sold categories were large appliances and consumer electronics. Home appliances were a hit. Automatic top and front load washing machines, direct cool refrigerators, air conditioners, microwave ovens and dishwashers were top sellers. Work from home essentials like study tables, chairs and dishwashers continued to remain popular. Amazon's festive season sale started last week just ahead of Navratri. 

"Essential products continue to remain in demand with consumers across the country; sellers in categories such as household products personal care continue to see day-on-day growth," said Flipkart about its Big Billion Days sale. 

Also read: E-commerce festive push for small businesses as Amazon, Flipkart focus on Bharat

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