Men spent more than women during demonetization drive

During the period between November and December 2016 men in India shopped a little more than women. Sales of men’s products increased about four per cent and that of women’s products increased by one per cent reveals a study by Capillary Technologies.

End of season sales in 2016 saw an increase of 14 per cent compared to end of season sales in 2015. During the demonetization period, between November and December 2016 vis-à-vis the same months last year, overall sales and overall transactions decreased by nine per cent and 14 per cent.

Sales sprung back to normal soon after the demonetization period between January and February2017. Compared to the same period last year, overall sales witnessed an increase of 25 per cent mostly driven by an increase in discounts by nine per cent. Indeed, Indian retail was impacted adversely in the short term due to lack of liquidity in the economy and Indian consumers’ propensity towards transacting in cash. However, demonetization impacted the unorganized segment and mom and pop stores more than it affected the well-structured retail segments. Abhijeet Vijayvergiya, VP and business head-India and Southeast Asia, Capillary Technologies points out sales and transaction numbers post the demonetization period shows that the retail industry has stabilized owing to India’s growing economy and favorable demographic spread coupled with increased digital transactions in terms of wallets and UPI coming to the fore.

Brands that held customer loyalty and customer engagement paramount registered increased sales during this period, as sales from repeat customers displayed a marked increase.