Growth From Knowledge or GFK has shared trends that can be a deciding factor in the growth of Indian markets. GFK is a global leader in market and consumer intelligence for technical consumer goods, and through its market intelligence, it has revealed the overall growth in smartphone sales, the price segment of devices and the geographical penetration market from January 2021 to October 2021.
The Trends in the Smartphone Market
The report from GFK market intelligence informs that the overall sales of the smartphones in terms of offline retail sales have grown by 4%, whereas the online retail sales have seen a surge by 29% during YTD October 2021 in comparison with 2020. During the same time period, the online channel contribution in terms of sales unit and sales value accounted for 40% and 41% respectively in the smartphone market as compared to 35% in the year 2020. The reason behind this growth can be credited to the rise in trust of the consumers and expansion of digitization of purchase which has resulted in online retail sales contributing more to the overall smartphone sales category. Talking about the prevailing price trends, GFK Market Intelligence has informed that there has been a rise in the sales units of the handsets by 56% in the premium-smartphone category, which are devices ranging between 30k - 40k. For the smartphones priced above 40k, the sales unit has also increased by 41%. This report from GFK Market Intelligent point-of-sales data hints towards the fact that the demand for premium products is increasing in India. The Director – sales of GFK India, Kartik Vasudevan, said in a statement that as markets have moved from the “want” to the “need” norm, it is not only about the product/ device but consumer ‘Lifestyle’. He informed that there had been a structural shift in buying behaviour as most of the consumers are now using tech to continue working and learning while staying at home. With work-from-home prevailing, consumers are now looking to invest in quality products that also offer longevity. The report from GFK also talked about the geographical penetration of the smartphone market. There has been an 11% growth in volume retail during YTD Oct 2021/ 2020 in overall sales for smartphones in tier 5 & above representing <50k population, whereas there has been a 7% increase in tier 3 cities.
