Lockdown has changed shopping & media consumption habits of Indians: InMobi

Mobile marketing research and insights company, InMobi launches the 3^rd part of their Covid-19 Consumer Insights: India report.

Four weeks into the lockdown, the reports findings suggest that more Indians are strictly adhering to lockdown guidelines (84% respondents) and 40% of the respondents believe that it will take anywhere between 6-12 months for the effects of Coronavirus to subside which is a 90% jump.

The report indicates that the jump in COVID-19 cases since 3/24/2020 has impacted consumer sentiment, awareness, understanding, and outlook towards the virus epidemic. While awareness about the virus origins has increased by 20% compared to previous report, 72% of participants are exposed to fake news around COVID-19 where most respondents believe that the virus originated from a biomedical experiment gone wrong or bio-war between US and China or bat soup consumption in China.

The good news is that a majority of respondents are find social distancing critical, appreciate the 21-day lockdown measure and are concerned about daily wage earners who are worst hit during this crisis. Another positive development is that fewer Indian (14%) are hoarding or buying essential items in bulk allowing others access to these items.

Impact of COVID-19 on spending, media consumption and behavior across age groups:

For Gen Z, 67% respondents anticipate increase in spending on food and WIFI/data usage from their budget. 68% of millennial respondents anticipate the same. Among Gen X, 23% women are spending more than men on WIFI and mobile data usage.

Compared to other generations, Gen Z is spending most of their time between playing mobile games (35%), listening to music (33%), and binging on OTT content (22%). Millennials are the largest consumers of news at 46%. 27% binge on OTT content; 22% play games on their phones, 17% are doing online courses and upskilling themselves. Among Gen X audiences, 39% of Gen X population is watching TV while 16% is binging on OTT content. This generation is least likely to engage with mobile games.

Gen Z (41%) who are living with their parents are now contributing to the household by increasing expenditure on essentials. 56% of the Gen Z respondents prefer to stock up for the short term (less than a week).42% of millennials are increasing their spends on food and essentials. An interesting trend is that 29% of the respondents were interested in picking up cooking as a new skill. 36% of the millennial respondents are also helping out with household chores. 32% of Gen X is stocking up on food and essentials for a period of one month or more. This generation of consumers rates the highest on doing household chores (40%).