69% Indian citizens excited about splurging this festival season: Ipsos IndiaBus Festival Outlook 2022

It’s the onset of the festival season in India, when consumers unleash their festive spirit through big ticket purchases. How is the mood of the masses this festival season? According to the Ipsos IndiaBus Festival Outlook 2022, at least 2 in 3 citizens (69%) are excited about the upcoming festival season and look forward to splurging on items like apparel, vehicles, home décor, property, home appliances, mobile phones, laptops etc. Interestingly, women were seen to be more excited about spending (73%) over men (67%), and it was also interesting to see the age-band disparities with 18-30 year olds more excited about festival shopping (74%) vis-à-vis 31-45 age band (67%) and 45+ age band (66%). Similarly, SEC A was more enthused about shopping (76%) versus SEC C.

Big City versus Small City     

The survey also showed city wise trends. Metros were seen more upbeat about spending (79%), followed by tier 1 towns (74%) than tier 2 (65%) and tier 3 cities (61%). Though, region wise differences were quite stark. West (81%) and north (79%) were seen to be more enthused about festival shopping while south (56%) and east (50%) were relatively subdued.

Parijat Chakraborty, Group Service Line Leader, Public Affairs and Corporate Reputation, Ipsos India, not surprised with the findings said, "The survey reflects the enthusiasm with Indians gearing up for the festival season. The festival has already begun with Durga Puja festivities on. Prior to that we had the Ganesh Chaturthi and Eid, though festival shopping peaks around Navratras, Dhanteras and Diwali, when it is considered most auspicious to buy, new big ticket items. Also it is the time of the year for upgradation, whether buying a new car or a new bigger TV, mobile phone etc. new clothes, sweets, home decor are a given. There is positivity and happiness in the air around the festival season, with spending predicted across socio economic groups, of course they will cut the coat, according to the cloth, and budgets and how much they spend would depend upon disposable incomes etc."

Macro factors to have less impact on festival spending

Almost 1 in 2 of citizens polled (48%) said they would spend higher this year as compared to the previous year, while 29% said they would spend the same as last year, while 23% would spend lower this year. Across cities, age groups and socio economic groups, similar pattern was seen. 

"The last two years of the pandemic had greatly impacted the sentiment around the festival season, almost taking the sheen off, with the covid fear, restrictions and the overall gloomy mood. But now the consumers are on the rebound, even with inflation and impact of war in Ukraine; we are likely to see revenge spending and citizens are actually looking forward to the festival season to loosen their purse strings. Of course, some will spend more and some less. And some wll go overboard capitalizing on all the new launches in gizmos and passenger vehicles riding on easy finance options," added Chakraborty.      

Ipsos India conducted a quantitative study using a structured questionnaire among 2284 citizens across the metros, tier 1,2 & 3 towns, from 16 cities, covering the length and breadth of the country.  Citizens belonged to SEC A, B & C households and were interviewed face to face  using tablets (computer aided personal interviewing – CAPI) and online interviews. The survey also had quotas by specialist target groups of employed, homemakers, retired, unemployed, self-employed and students. The  margin of error was +/-5% with 95% accuracy levels.  

Ipsos IndiaBus is an omnibus study being run on a monthly basis covering a plethora of topics for clients and their brand decisions and on macro topics.      

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