WhatsApp is the most frequented app, followed by Facebook and YouTube: Report

• Overall household spending has increased for 59%, majorly in Northern regions, 3% dip from last month.
• Highest ‘steady’ spends (33%) in essentials and lowest ‘increased’ spends(14%) in non-essential spends in the last 5 months.
• Surge in steady spends in health-related items for 40% families, drop by 2% from last month.
• Increased media consumption for a majority of 25% of families, Net Score improves from -4 to +1.

Axis My India, a leading consumer data intelligence company, released its latest findings of the India Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI), a monthly analysis of consumer perception on a wide range of issues. The month of December reveals that a combined 58% engage with Digital apps / Websites + Social Media and 53% engage with television for news/latest updates. WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram are some of the most frequented apps my consumers with WhatsApp topping the last. Moreover media engagement in general has increased for 25% of the families, highest in the last three months.

The January net CSI score, calculated by percentage increase minus percentage decrease in sentiment, was up to +10, from +8 last month The sentiment analysis delves into 5 relevant sub-indices – Overall household spending, spending on essential and non-essential items, spending on healthcare, media consumption habits & mobility trends.

This month, Axis My India’s Sentiment Index also probed deeper to understand consumer preferences in terms of news consumption and frequently used digital applications. Finally, the January survey also revealed consumers thoughts on 2022.

The surveys were carried out via Computer Aided Telephonic Interviews with a sample size of 10563 people across 36 states. 71% belonged from Rural India while 29% belonged from urban counterparts. In addition, 64% of the respondents were male while 36% of the respondents were female.

Commenting on the December report, Pradeep Gupta, CMD, Axis My India, said, “While the new year brought along hope and optimism for a better 2022, consumers purse strings suggest otherwise. The lowest dip in non-essential spending is a proof that consumers are curling back to apprehensions triggered by the new variant of the virus and also hoping for a booster dose, something which has recently been announced by the Government.

Moreover, the higher preference of web for seeking news only reflect the gradual change in media consumption behaviour owing to consistent lockdown experienced by consumers in the last two years. In addition, the inclination towards WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube reflects an evolved and unconscious mode of conversing, converging or consuming dialogue/information/media."Key findings:

• Overall household spending has increased for 59% of families which reflects a 3% decrease from the last month. While this increase is majorly reflected in the Northern part of India, the net score is at +50, reflecting the dip in net score by 1 percentage point for 3^rd consecutive month.
• ·Spends on essentials like personal care & household items has increased for 47% of the families showcasing a surge in the Northern part of India. Spends however remain the same for 33% of the families (the highest in the last 5 months). The net score which was +27 last month comes down to +26 this month.
• ·Spends on non-essential & discretionary products like AC, Car, Refrigerator has increased for 14% of families, indicating the lowest percentage in the last 5 months. Expenditure nevertheless remains the same for 78% of the families indicating the sentiment of people living in Southern part of India. The net score is stagnant at +6 as last month.
• ·Consumption on health-related items more or less remains the same for 43% of the families, while a surge is witnessed among 40%. In comparison to last month, while the ‘increase’ in consumption represents an overall dip by 2%, the ‘same’ consumption reflects an overall surge by 2%. The health score which has a negative connotation i.e., the lesser the spends on health items the better the sentiments, has a net score value of -23, which was at -25 previous month.
• ·Consumption of media has increased for 25% of the families reflecting an increase of 3% from the last month and the highest in the last three months. This surge is reflected among 18-25 YO in Eastern part of India. Consumption remains the same for a majority of 51% families. The overall, the Net score of this month is at +1 as compared to -4 for the previous month.
• ·85% families said that they are going out the same for short vacations, mall and restaurants as compared to 81% of families last month. Only 6% of families recorded increase in outgoing activities while 9% reported reduced mobility. The overall mobility score which was at -5 last month is at -3.