65% of Indian Consumers Express Positive Buying Sentiment in Diwali’20: TRA Whitepaper

 TRA Research, India’s leading consumer insights and brand analytics company, today released a whitepaper titled TRA’s Diwali 2020 Buying Propensity Report gauging the changing buying mindsets and sentiments for the upcoming Diwali in November 2020. 65% of all consumers expressed a Positive Buying Sentiment as compared to now, and 28% felt it would remain the same. The Apparels category was a positive outlier and had the Highest Buying Priority at 3.11 times the average of all other categories. Mobile Phones, Consumer Electronics and Two-wheelers were on Very High Consumer Buying Priority, followed by Home Furniture, Jewellery and TVs, which were on High Priority. The survey was conducted with 503 consumer-influencers across 16 cities between 9th June and 15th July 2020. 

Speaking about report N. Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research, said that, "Diwali has traditionally been a period of consumption boom as consumers tend to increase spends, and brands scramble to catch their attention. This Diwali will be a deciding factor for many brands, as they prepare trepidatiously for the festive season. This report gives a very good view on which will be the preferred categories for Diwali buying."

"This is good news of course, but the pre-Covid consumer spends were already lower on account of a depressed and strained economy, and a comparison between the consumer household spends between the two Diwalis of 2019 and 2020, show that this year is likely to see 5.1% lesser spends than the previous one,” Chandramouli added. 

‘Medium Consumer Buying Priority’ included Personal Accessories, Cars, Laptops and Kitchen Appliances, while ‘Low Consumer Buying Priority Zone’ includes Travel, Health Insurance and Home Renovation.

The survey results also revealed that online shopping is set to see an unprecedented boom in a post-Covid-19 world. Also, kirana stores or small standalone store, close-by neighbourhood stores, local groceries are the preferred places to shop. Big formats stores like Supermarkets, Hypermarkets, Branded outlets are unlikely to see many visitors, and Malls carry a negative sentiment due to tremendous consumer reluctance despite relaxed norms and promise of better safety. 

Nearly 95% consumers rated Product Quality as the most important influence when making purchases for Diwali 2020 followed by product usefulness (89%), Product Price (88%), Buying Convenience (87%) and Brand Name (86%). Advertising at 71% remains the lowest choice driver for Diwali shopping.

About TRA Research

TRA Research, a Comniscient Group company, is a consumer insights and brand intelligence Company dedicated to understanding and analyzing stakeholder behavior through two globally acclaimed proprietary matrices of Brand Trust and Brand Desire. TRA Research conducts primary research with consumers and stakeholders to assist brands with their business decisions based on Consumer Behaviour insights.

TRA Research is consulting brands on transitioning during and after the Covid-19 crisis, to help them be more aligned to consumer and client expectations. TRA Research is the also the publisher of TRA’s Brand Trust Report and of TRA’s Most Desired Brands.

For more information, please visit www.trustadvisory.info

Spinny Sees 400% Increase in Queries and Home-Test Drive Requests from Women

Spinny – a complete online-to-offline retail platform for buying and selling preowned or used cars – has sold more than 1,200 cars since lockdown 4.0 began. The company has observed a 400% increase in queries from women buyers since preowned cars are now considered a ‘necessity’ for urban households. For the safety of all customers and employees, Spinny has processed all orders #WithExtraCare via a contactless delivery system. 

As women are inconvenienced by social distancing and other COVID-19 related restrictions, owning a car is now seen as the swiftest, safest way of personal mobility. Due to the liquidity crunch, however, along with other customers, women are opting for preowned cars. Therefore, Spinny is providing a safe modern-day solution at each touch-point keeping ‘Customer Convenience’ and safety at the center of every experience. Since the lockdown, the number of women customers is estimated to be 20% compared to 10% women car buyers in 2019.

Commenting on the trend of women preferring preowned cars, Niraj Singh, CEO  & Co-Founder – Spinny said: “The ongoing pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for customers, including women. Be it buying, selling, online ordering, home-test drives or home deliveries, we have set industry standards in zero-contact processes.  Men try but women helm the responsibilities of the safety of the family in a household, and with the rising enquires, it's evident that women wouldn't compromise in safety in transportation for any household.''

 In its Home Test Drive #WithExtraCare, Spinny rigorously follows the necessary precautions as per WHO guidelines, with safety as the top priority. Once on the website or app, buyers go through three simple steps for zero-contact home delivery of their chosen car. Thereby, Spinny has processed numerous orders since lockdown 4.0. In facilitating online purchases, the process is wholly transparent. The car’s entire history is online with HD images covering every angle of the vehicle. Customers are given a real-time virtual tour in viewing the car. All Spinny cars displayed on the portal are available for a home-test drive at the customer’s convenience.

Besides, Spinny stringently ensures employee hygiene. Screened for temperatures daily, the staff adheres to all social distancing norms while attending to customers. Across cities, Spinny car hubs function as deep sanitization zones where each car is sanitized before and after every test drive with special focus on frequently-touched areas. During the test drive, customers receive a complimentary safety kit comprising masks, gloves and sanitizers. Once satisfied, the customer can buy the car on the spot after the test drive or request home delivery. 

Spinny is redefining the auto retail of preowned cars via its seamless ‘phygital’ purchase process. Since its inception, Spinny has earned the trust of 10,000-plus customers. Currently, it operates in six cities – Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune – via 10 car hubs. With its No Haggling Fixed Price Assurance, 1-Year Warranty and 5-Day No Questions Asked Money-Back Guarantee, Spinny has gained customers’ trust while augmenting their premium buying experience.

About Spinny

Spinny is a full-stack car-buying platform for the young Indian, enabling a car buying experience that is simple and delightful. Though in the early stages, Spinny has been appreciated by its customers with an above 4.5 out of 5 ratings from Spinny car owners – and a 78% NPS and 35% referral purchases. Headquartered in Gurgaon, Spinny employs 500-plus people across 6 cities in India.

An IIT-Delhi alumnus, Niraj Singh (Founder & CEO) is a serial entrepreneur and investor. Spinny was born out of his desire to deal with a core area that directly addresses the customer’s challenge – in this case, a car. He noticed the absence of a platform that offers a completely trustworthy and premium experience to people purchasing second-hand cars, even though they are spending a significant amount and the purchase is a very aspirational one for them. He was determined to solve this problem by eliminating the distrust and making the process simple and straightforward for customers.

Intermiles Offers Opportunities to Earn Daily with Intermiles Everyday

InterMiles, the leading loyalty & rewards programme, has introduced an expanded range of opportunities that will enable members to broad-base their earning potential of the digital rewards currency, InterMiles. ‘InterMiles Everyday’ will enable members to earn assured InterMiles as they conduct their daily transactions.

The lockdown has prompted new habits and behaviors to take hold as members adjusted to a disruption in availability products, access to services and social distancing norms. Taking cognizance of increase in adoption of digital services, InterMiles App will provide meaningful opportunities for members to earn more across activities such as online learning & reading, retail, healthcare, bill payment & recharges, and gift cards, through ‘InterMiles Everyday’.

Mr. Vikas Chandak, Senior VP & Head – Business & Strategic Partnerships, InterMiles said, “We are excited to share with our members that InterMiles earning is no longer occasion driven, it is every day. InterMiles Everyday allows our members to find quick and easy ways to earn InterMiles on a daily basis via our App and engage with various aspects of the program. The pandemic has prompted consumers to actively seek convenient ways of interacting with brands. InterMiles Everyday is in sync with the evolving habits, lifestyle & constraints of our member community and offers instant miles earning opportunities. As we grow InterMiles Everyday, we hope to make the InterMiles earning a very rewarding daily habit.”

As new habits take hold, members are spending a lot more time online – buying, learning, accessing entertainment and building social connections have all become increasingly virtual. Towards making InterMiles earning an everyday habit, InterMiles Everyday has opened a range of fun & engaging activities like Quizzes and Games which members can enjoy while sitting at home. Additionally, encouraging our members to stay fit, InterMiles Everyday will allow members to earn miles for steps they take on a daily basis through its new feature Step to Miles. Through unique partnerships InterMiles enables its members to earn miles for all their online shopping across players like Amazon, Flipkart and Zivame, as well as while learning on Udemy, Economist, TedX and Eduonix. InterMiles is continuously expanding these partnerships towards becoming more relevant on a daily basis.

InterMiles serves as a ubiquitous, alternate currency of choice that members can earn on every spend as well as use accumulated InterMiles for a reward of their choice. Members can continue unlocking rewards across Amazon, Shoppers Stop, Flipkart, and over 2,500 merchandise options on the InterMiles Reward store.

About InterMiles

InterMiles is one of the world’s leading Loyalty & Rewards Programme. - Its ubiquitous rewards and recognition currency, also called InterMiles, helps close to 10 million InterMiles members fulfil their travel and lifestyle aspirations. The program lets members make every day transactions and lifestyle experiences more rewarding by earning InterMiles across, essential services, healthcare, wellness, learning, shopping, dining, travel and more. Members can then redeem these miles for over 2,500 merchandise options.

Is IBM no longer keen on buying Sun anymore?

IBM is no longer interested in buying smaller rival Sun Microsystems Inc at any price, CNBC reported, although many investors appear to believe a deal was still possible.

Citing sources close to Sun, CNBC said the high-end computer maker had approached International Business Machines Corp earlier this week to ask it to return to the negotiating table, indicating that Sun would be flexible about price.

But IBM has decided it is not interested in any further negotiations with Sun, the cable news network reported, citing sources close to IBM. IBM and Sun declined to comment.

IBM had withdrawn a $7 billion offer for Sun earlier this month, after the smaller company rejected the bid of up to $9.40 per share as too low, sources with knowledge of the matter have said.

Shares of Sun were up 4.24 percent at $6.39 after the CNBC report, but lower than before the market opened on Thursday. Sun traded at around $4.97 before talks between the two technology companies were first reported in March.

Avian Securities' head of research, Avi Cohen, said he believed the two sides would talk again.

"If the deal made sense a couple weeks ago, it certainly would still make sense today," he said. "If there was a willingness, which I think there is, if there was a business case, which I think there is, I think they will start up talks."

CNBC said IBM decided against the move after looking at Sun's structured contracts, as well as change of control clauses that would make an acquisition of the company costly.

It also reported that IBM's contacts within the US Justice Department, US Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Union have all advised the company that such a merger could be subject to an antitrust review lasting six to nine months.

Analysts have said a deal may be crucial for Sun's long-term survival as it has been losing market share in servers to IBM and Hewlett-Packard Co, and analysts expect it to report a third straight quarter of losses excluding special items.

Sun, which rose to prominence in the 1990s, had been searching for a buyer for several months, according to bankers.

The Silicon Valley company never fully recovered from the burst of the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s, when demand for servers cratered. It has also failed to fully capitalize on its software assets, including its Java software platform.

Agencies