Lockdown 3.0: Elders going big on e-commerce and use of digital wallet

The lockdown has brought a sea of changes in the buying behaviour of many Indians, such as purchasing vegetables and other consumables without asking for prices, according to a survey by Enormous Brands.

The survey took feedback from 3,737 respondents in cities including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune and Ahmedabad. It found that there has also been a sharp increase in adoption of digital technology by older people to join the e-commerce bandwagon for ordering items like milk, grocery and home essentials and paying through wallets and UPI.
 

“The stay-at-home mandate has changed the behaviour of many Indians. Indians who were born and brought up asking for ‘dhaniya’ or ‘mirchi’ free from the vegetable vendors are now buying vegetables and other consumables without asking the prices,” said the survey.
 

Around 42 per cent of respondents claimed they buy vegetables and other consumables without asking for prices, which is a drastic shift from a universal value-conscious, penny pinching Indian mentality, it added.
 

The survey also found that older people adopted digital technology faster during the lockdown, with as much as 47 per cent higher adoption among elders (55-65 years) of e-commerce for ordering milk, grocery and home essentials and paying through UPI.

The study found that TV viewership grew during the lockdown, shining over OTT platforms. It found that 43 per cent saw cable TV as primary entertainment in the high-income households and 13 per cent across the sample size re-activated their DTH/cable subscription, it said.
 

According to the survey, newspapers are poised for a strong return, with 74 per cent of the respondents saying they missed their daily newspaper. While 29 per cent have moved to reading newspapers online, only 4 per cent would unsubscribe from the hard copy.
 

"Looks like the newspaper is a habit like coffee that has grown on the Indian palette, making it difficult to part with," it said.