Consumer Discretionary

<p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;The Covid 19 has brought in a change in the buying behaviour of the consumer. With multiple options and the convenience of shopping by sitting at home, there is a surge to online shopping.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The corona virus cases are growing and having a major impact on society. The physical problem of actually entering a store due to fear of contacting is high.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The virus or government restrictions have impacted outlet cashflow. Retail has always been a very competitive industry, where the chase for margin is unpredictable.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Customers hop to many outlets to get the best deal. The pandemic is further challenging the status quo with reduced footfalls and disrupted supply chain.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The impact of pandemic on the e-commerce sector has been positive in terms of sales values. Online shopping has accelerated by nearly 2 years.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">A larger number of customers are ordering their purchases online irrespective of disposable or discretionary items. Moreover, with the number of infections rising the preference for online purchases is on an upward trend. Once, consumer starts they continue to look for high quality goods at reasonable prices.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This has resulted in favourable growth in the Indian e-commerce industry even after easing of restrictions.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">In the current scenario, any player in the consumer electronics and appliances industry cannot afford to have a weak online presence. With the increasing penetration of internet, companies are not limiting themselves to just brick -and- mortar stores.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Some consumers are following the research online and buy offline trend for home appliances by comparing prices online and reading through the reviews, but then physically visiting the stores to purchase the products.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Existing companies have a strong foothold in the Indian market. They cater to urban &amp; Tier 2 /3 cities.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Being closer to customers, these companies have an edge over competition.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">They are looking at setting up an e-commerce marketplace platform to enable sales of goods through their own platforms where they could enlist their existing distributors and retailers.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">As sellers the idea is to drive B2C and facilitate B2B sales through this platform. Companies can also provide value added services &ndash; Logistics and Credits.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">COVID-19 is a reminder to the industry about the fragility in ways of doing business. It will be a game changer for companies that will focus on evolving business models and transformational.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Change with new and emerging technology&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.</p>