The current lockdown is a dark phase, something that the world has not witnessed in decades. But there is always a silver lining in any adverse situation. Laqshya Media Group – One of The Largest Comprehensive Marketing Communications Groups in India – has found a bit of that silver lining by conducting a research study to help marketeers figure out the perceptions, aspirations and anticipations of the Indian Millennial via-a-vis the ‘New Normal’ that the world faces today.
An online study was conducted reaching 1104 respondents across the primary cities in India. The target group belonged to the age group between 18 and 39, across genders and representing both NCCS A and B. Summarizing all the reports and survey results has helped Laqshya assess the perceptions, aspirations and anticipations of the Indian millennials. The good news is that not only are the IMF and the RBI confident of India bouncing back – so are the Indian Millennials! A few findings of the report are excerpted below.
The research talks about customer behavior as per two primary age groups 18-25 and 26-39. Analysis shows that each cohort responded differently to some of the questions posed to them, while they were statistically similar in response to others. For example, one of the questions was whether people will wait to visit malls, restaurants or any public places right after the lockdown is lifted. 75% of the entire respondent base responded that they will be back within 4 to 5 weeks. The younger people, 18-25, shared that they will hit the malls in an average of 23 days while the 25-39 cohort’s average wait time was 29 days!
But 31% of the targeted group are more likely to use personal travel more frequently as compared to earlier. Around 12% to 14% respondents intend to but a car or a two wheeler over the next 12 months as assets.
It is interesting to realize that people have different mindsets towards outings, investing and traveling. Similar to the aforementioned question, a series of questions were asked to the people from different ages, genders, backgrounds and professions. Majority of people responded that they want to meet friends and family after the lockdown. It was noted that younger people and women had a major inclination towards eating out.
The millennials are optimistically cautious especially in investing money or procuring assets. 53% of the respondents want to invest in fixed deposits, but more than 40% of them continue to have faith in mutual funds, and more than a quarter anticipate investing in the stock market. The millennials also want to invest more in education and development of their skills, which will surely give a boost to the education sector.
In the advertising world, print and outdoor media have taken a major hit as people during the lockdown had little option but to move to digital news portals and OTT platforms. Most of the population is binge watching on all the major OTT platforms. Video calling apps have also gained great popularity thanks to official meetings and social hangouts being restricted to our laptop/mobile screen. Will these trends stay after the lockdown ends? On that note, 36% of the respondents said that their online shopping will increase, and whopping 86% say that they will notice OOH advertising as much or more than they did before!
References from the reports by The Reserve Bank of India, The International Monetary Fund and McKinsey & Company were also taken into account while making the report.
According to a report by CARS24, India’s one of the fastest growing auto-tech start-up, a considerable share of the commuters will now look forward to using private cars in the post COVID world to essentially maintain social distancing, however, affordability and convenience of public transport will keep attracting daily commuters.
Contemplating the economic state of the nation and growing concern for the safety of their family member, several people are rationing their budgets for high ticket assets. According to the survey, 46% respondents said that they have decreased their budget due to the global pandemic, out of which, 50% said that they will be purchasing pre-owned cars once the lockdown is over. In another interesting finding, 22.5% of the consumers who were planning to buy a new car last year would now prefer to buy pre-owned car because of their limited budgets.
Sharing the insights about the consumer’s response, Mr. Gajendra Jangid Co-Founder and CMO, CARS24 said, “Global pandemic has surely transformed the way we used to live and has forced us to think of making a change in our usual practices including the way we used to commute. Understanding that social distancing will stay in our lives for a little longer period in the post COVID world, people are more inclined towards owing a private vehicle to commute in the future. They are not only limiting their budgets for high priced assets but are also planning to invest their hard-earned money much more wisely and are keener to buy a pre-owned car instead of a new one. Expecting the change and the way people will buy cars in future, we expect that ¼ of our consumers would like to shift to online car selling/ buying platforms in the post COVID world.”
In addition to the reduction in the budget of the buyers due to the global pandemic, family requirements and the risk of Infection have emerged as the major reasons for buying a car amongst the consumers. The report further revealed that while 42% feel that they now need to buy a car for the family, 53% of the consumers think of buying one within next 6 months.
However, unlike metros where consumers intend to buy cars increased by 41%, respondents from non-metro cities feel that they would like to switch to two wheelers instead. The analysis further revealed that 55% of the consumers who were using cabs as their primary mode to commute before COVID would now like to shift to private cars while 15% said that they will switch to 2-wheelers.
Conducted using various digital platforms, the survey interviewed over 3600 consumers in 11 metros and 37 non-metro cities to understand their sentiments towards car ownership in the post COVID world. Comprising over 59% of the respondents from the metro cities and 41% respondents from the non-metro cities, 30% of the respondents, interestingly, do not own a car. The report comprised 83% male responders and 27% female responders.
