E-commerce in metros surpasses pre-COVID-19 levels post lockdown: CRED

A report by credit card bill payment platform CRED states e-commerce spends surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels after the lockdown across Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru as more people opted to shop online for their discretionary and non-discretionary spends. Based on an analysis of credit card spending patterns of over three million members across the three cities, the report reviews February 2020 spending as a baseline and compares it to spends in subsequent months under which the lockdown and unlock time periods fall.

The study was done to understand larger trends reflected in spending behaviour of affluent consumers pre-, during and post the lockdown.

According to it, more individuals opted to shop online for their discretionary and non-discretionary spends during the lockdown but have continued after the lockdown as well, indicating a larger behavioral trend. Sharp spikes were recorded in online grocery and e-commerce surpassing even pre-COVID-19 levels, while spending on physical grocery and shopping fell substantially.

It further said online grocery spends surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels in both May-June and June-July periods. The highest recorded spike across categories and time periods analyzed in the report was witnessed in Mumbai during the lockdown when spends on online grocery spiked to a whopping 147 per cent compared to pre-COVID-19 levels, nearly 1.5 times.

The study also noted that insurance spends during the onset of the lockdown were close to pre-COVID-19 spends. However, during the May-June period, spending spiked across all three cities and surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels. These stabilized but remained high during the unlock period. Mumbai topped with consistently high expenditures on insurance across time periods, CRED said.