This Festive Season, 2 Out of 5 Consumers Plan to Shop from D2C Merchants: Survey

With the onset of the festive season, more than 2 out of 5 consumers across the country have expressed their intent to shop online from direct-to-consumer (D2C) merchants, according to a survey conducted by buy-now-pay-later platform Simpl.

“To gauge consumer sentiment during the festive season, Simpl reached out to lakhs of its users across the country and gained rich insights about their festive purchase plans,” Simpl said in a statement.

Overall, consumer optimism remains high, as 41 per cent of the participants said they have strong online shopping plans during this festive season, with 33 per cent of the respondents planning to purchase fashion and accessories, followed by 23 per cent for travel, and 11 per cent for personal care. Food and beverages, as well as consumer electronics, were other popular categories that respondents plan to spend on.

Gen Y (between 1982 and 1994) and Millennials (between 1981 and 1996) constituted a majority of the responses, highlighting their strong preference for festive shopping online, including D2C merchants, to cater to their specific and unique needs.

Khanaz K A, CXO (D2C business) at Simpl, said, “The festive period is undoubtedly a much-anticipated season for consumers and merchants across India. As an organisation, we are committed to building consumers’ trust in merchants, D2C merchants in particular, and increasing conversions and reducing returns for the latter through our AI-led checkout and post checkout solutions.”

Nearly 70 per cent of D2C merchants are also expecting a 2x-4x increase in sales during the festive season, revealed another survey by Simpl conducted among hundreds of merchants across the country. These merchants are significantly adding manufacturing and warehousing capacities, along with increasing manpower and spending on marketing, the survey stated.