The recent Nielsen IQ study reveals rapidly growing group of 'newly constrained' consumers who have experienced a decline in household income or their financial situation has worsened. The online study also finds that urban consumers are likely to control their spending despite vaccine deployment. Scott McKenzie, Global Head of Nielsen IQ Intelligence Unit, discussed the findings.

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“Growth, not just in India but everywhere, through the course of this year will be patchy and will be harder to find but it is there. The demonstration that we saw in Q4 in India that will rise or at least return to some levels of growth after what was, by all accounts, a tough year is real greenshoot that is out there,” he said.

In terms of prices, he said, “You have got three-legged stool that needs to be balanced here on pricing. There is price pressures, there is the pressure from the retailers to try to contain cost because their consumers are telling them that they need to manage their costs differently to how they had before."

"India was lower pre-COVID in having large numbers of constrained consumers compared to some of the bigger western European markets. So, perhaps that is a reflection of how you got this larger group of newly constrained consumers in the mix now. So a big focus on that group.”

On unorganised labour force and the pressures they might be facing in terms of income expenditure, he stated, “There has been a significant movement of people out of urban areas back home to some of the rural areas. With that you saw a shift back to more traditional spending at the same time."

"If you look elsewhere in the world, at big markets where there was also a movement that sort of reverse migration that took place particularly in the unregulated worker front. E-Commerce hasn’t played as bigger role in India as it has elsewhere and that perhaps is another opportunity.”

“So watching that movement, urban to rural that we saw early last year and now back again rural to urban will be another recalibration point for consumers,” he pointed out.

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(Edited by : Bivekananda Biswas)

First Published:Mar 9, 2021 4:58 PM IST