A majority of consumers have been able to buy essential goods from their local retailers during the ongoing lockdown as against from e-commerce platforms, according to a survey by online social community platform LocalCircles. About 55% of the respondents in the survey said they were still unable to get most essential goods via e-commerce platforms as against 38% who stated that they were unable to buy these from their local retail stores.
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The survey between March 30-31, which received 17,048 responses from consumers located in 178 districts across the country, however, showed that the overall situation in terms of access to essential goods had improved from an earlier survey on March 27-28. That survey had showed 59% of those who ordered essential goods via an e-commerce app could not receive them, while 40% of those who went to local retail stores could not get most of the essential goods that they had wanted.
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LocalCircles noted that the e-commerce industry was still facing a challenge in obtaining curfew passes for delivery personnel in many parts of the country. In addition, availability of workforce was also a hurdle for warehousing and delivery, as migrant labourers were moving back to their hometowns. “As a result, most e-commerce platforms are still not accepting orders for essential goods in most cities and if an order is accepted, long fulfilment times of 5-6 days (versus 1-2 days in normal circumstances) is being promised to consumers. Latest feedback from consumers is also indicating that some platforms are doing last minute cancellations on 25-50% of the items ordered,” it said in a statement.
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Whereas in the case of local retailers, as per customer feedback, many local retail stores were still closed and not delivering because their owners and managers had still not received the curfew passes.
“LocalCircles will be submitting the findings of this report to various stakeholders in the Central government and State governments requesting them to take actions highlighted in this report and drive further improvement in availability of essential goods via retail stores and e-commerce platforms,” it added.