Consumer durables are one of the largest and fastest-growing segments within India’s consumer market.
Driven by general trade, the sector is largely unorganized. While the general trade remains the biggest channel over years to come, our findings suggest that there is a massive win-win opportunity for both traders and consumers. Let’s find out.
1. Consumer Durable Industry growth has its own share of obstacles both in online and offline channels
Currently, consumers purchase durables through both offline and online channels which has its own share of obstacles. Key challenges in online purchasing of durables is a lack of support and touch/feel of the physical product, Offline purchasing while working great on assistance and physically reviewing of the products, is hampered by a lack of selection and exorbitant pricing.
2. The omnichannel model can debottleneck this space especially with the help of video commerce + D2C play as 46% of people watch videos before buying
By CY25, video-powered omnichannel shopping in consumer durables might be a big deal, since it tries to close the gaps between traditional e-commerce and physical channels. Consumers are actively adopting video in their shopping experiences across categories, and they are willing to do the same in durables. According to surveys, 46% of customers watch videos before buying durable consumer goods.
3. India’s enormous durables industry is mostly driven by general trade, which is slowly adopting digitization at the backend
General trade is the biggest channel within durables – and will continue to be so by 2025 as well. It is now becoming common to see retails shops having QR codes and card machines at the point of sale. Retailers are also open to expanding their online presence for driving sales. As these traders are getting aware of the benefits of digitization, they are getting in line to embrace it, indicating a large opportunity for front end and back-end digitization.
4. We expect that ‘digital-enabled general trade’ in the durables category will grow rapidly to account for ~$3.8 Bn in procurement in this category by 2025
$3.8 bn of durables to be procured by ‘digitally enabled general trade’ by 2025. This means increased margins, greater competitiveness against online and organised B&M, higher online sales, and easier access to working capital for retailers.
5. Post debottlenecking the industry will go on a fast track to become $34 billion, by 2025
By 2025, the industry will have debottlenecked and will be worth $34 billion. The adoption of new generation Omnichannel tactics, which attempt to bridge the gap between traditional e-commerce and offline channels, would boost consumer durables. Increased internet penetration and growth in Tier 2+ areas will help to expand the customer base.
With the growing need for digitization, the D2C platforms are at the forefront of benefitting as they are offering tech solutions and opportunities to enable front-end buying experience and operations for a consumer durable retailer.