Amid a huge spike in demand for hand sanitisers in the country during the past months, new entrants and smaller brands have come to the rescue of the consumers.
According to a report by market researcher Nielsen, smaller players jumped in to exploit the demand surge, capturing 61% of the market in March, with the top three brands accounting for the remaining 39%. The share of top three brands dropped from 85% in both January and February.
About 152 new players entered the segment in March, the ‘Nielsen Covid-19 Impact on FMCG and Retail: Edition 2’, stated.
The report showed a sharp fall in the sale of FMCG products across various channels after a high double-digit growth during the first three weeks on account of the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19.
Traditional retailers, who account for the bulk of FMCG sales in India, saw sales surge by 10% in the week ending March 22, while seeing a 8% dip in the week ended March 29, compared with the same week of the previous year. Modern trade stores saw a sharp 63% jump in sales in the third week of March while posting only 6% growth in the last week of March. E-commerce saw demand nosedive 64% in the last week of March.
Nielsen cited supply and retail point issues, such as constraints in replenishment of stock, lack of transport, lack of workforce and police restrictions,, among others, as the reasons that impacted volumes.
Further, a survey by the firm found that consumers are likely to be bearish on discretionary spending in the coming months. While 64% respondents said they intend to spend less on movies and restaurants visits, over 54% plan to decrease spends on automobiles, luxury brands and leisure travel, over 43% want to defer spending more on fashion, personal grooming and home décor and 42% want to spend less on alcohol and tobacco products.
